Hardcode Definiton

[Earl Anderson]

I browse Google MS Access groups frequently and have come upon the word
"hardcode" or its variations (hardcoding, hardcoded, hard code, etc) in some
of the posts. What exactly is "hardcoding " ? Is it the opposite of
"softcoding " (though I've never seen that word)? How does it differ from
any other code? Is it more strenuous to write hardcode than most other
code? Just curious.

Thx...
Earl Anderson

[Steve Jorgensen]

Re: Hardcode Definiton

The metaphore is similar to hard-wired. If a behavior or data item used by a
program is determined entirely within code itself, then it is hard-coded. If
a behavior is driven by data stored and accessible outside of the code, then
it is not. There is no antonym for hard-coded, the term you would use depends
on what the code would do with the data.

By way of example, if a program displays the name of the registered owner, and
that is determined by a line in the code like the following

Public Const cstrRegisteredO wner = "Foo Bar, Inc."

then it is hard coded. Nothing outside of the code itself determines what
registered owner name will be displayed.

On Fri, 14 May 2004 00:08:16 -0400, "Earl Anderson" <isobadd@rcn.co m> wrote:
[color=blue]
>I browse Google MS Access groups frequently and have come upon the word
>"hardcode" or its variations (hardcoding, hardcoded, hard code, etc) in some
>of the posts. What exactly is "hardcoding " ? Is it the opposite of
>"softcoding " (though I've never seen that word)? How does it differ from
>any other code? Is it more strenuous to write hardcode than most other
>code? Just curious.
>
>Thx...
>Earl Anderson
>
>[/color]

[Bradley]

Re: Hardcode Definiton

Steve Jorgensen wrote:[color=blue]
> The metaphore is similar to hard-wired. If a behavior or data item
> used by a program is determined entirely within code itself, then it
> is hard-coded. If a behavior is driven by data stored and accessible
> outside of the code, then it is not. There is no antonym for
> hard-coded, the term you would use depends on what the code would do
> with the data.
>
> By way of example, if a program displays the name of the registered
> owner, and that is determined by a line in the code like the following
>
> Public Const cstrRegisteredO wner = "Foo Bar, Inc."
>
> then it is hard coded. Nothing outside of the code itself determines
> what registered owner name will be displayed.
>
> On Fri, 14 May 2004 00:08:16 -0400, "Earl Anderson" <isobadd@rcn.co m>
> wrote:
>[color=green]
>> I browse Google MS Access groups frequently and have come upon the
>> word "hardcode" or its variations (hardcoding, hardcoded, hard code,
>> etc) in some of the posts. What exactly is "hardcoding " ? Is it
>> the opposite of "softcoding " (though I've never seen that word)?
>> How does it differ from any other code? Is it more strenuous to
>> write hardcode than most other code? Just curious.
>>
>> Thx...
>> Earl Anderson[/color][/color]

I usually say the opossite to "hard coding" is "dynamic" :) I usually
try to make things as dynamic as possible to allow for unforseen
eventualities.
--
regards,

Bradley