by Robert Sample » Wed Nov 10, 2010 3:53 am
priyadatta30, computer programming is hard work. It requires time, lots of attention to detail, planning things in advance, and lots (I mean LOTS) of hours coding and testing. For a beginner, the project you've outlined could easily take 2 to 6 weeks -- 80 to 240 hours. And the project you're doing is one of the simplest -- data retrieval from a file and display, which means all the hard work of entering (and validating) the data was already done. A beginner should plan on spending 4 to 8 hours just laying out the work to be done -- what maps / mapsets / programs / transactions / files are needed, how they all interact, what data you need to enter on each screen and what data will be displayed, what data are passing from program to program, and so forth. The actual format you lay everything out in depends upon you -- there's not just one way to lay things out, and as long as the layouts make sense to you then they are good.
Then, code up your first screen map, use CECI to verify it looks right, then write the program to handle that map. Debug it and make sure you are getting what you want before going further. And continue until everything is coded and tested. Practically, you're talking about six maps and several thousand lines of code (depending upon the standards in place) to handle everything, so organization going into the project will be extremely helpful as you proceed.