There are a few things that need to be put into external files with a "let the user worry about it!" idea, like tax rates.
For example, I'm helping someone by trying to hunt down the maker of (or any information on) an ancient accounting program called The BOSS so that its hard-coded tax rates can be adjusted. Alas, it seems unlikely :(
There's 20 years' worth of information in that program and it runs beautifully (it can do a detailed search through all of that data in less than a second)... too much to lose for such a simple problem.
Err, has anyone heard of it by chance?
In lots of ways, the writer is indeed wrong. A program like The BOSS should be built to last forever; it's a darn good program with practically the same capabilities as modern tools for small business. (Maybe better, in fact, since its UI doesn't look stupid :b).
In a case like The BOSS, which is made available to people who do not have the source code, anything that could possibly change needs to be changeable by the user in the event that the developer disappears.
So, yah, soft coding has it's places but that article made me suddenly realize that there is a line and it has been crossed when you start introducing LUA scripting so that you can manage simple game score rules "in a sane manner".
For example, I'm helping someone by trying to hunt down the maker of (or any information on) an ancient accounting program called The BOSS so that its hard-coded tax rates can be adjusted. Alas, it seems unlikely :(
There's 20 years' worth of information in that program and it runs beautifully (it can do a detailed search through all of that data in less than a second)... too much to lose for such a simple problem.
Err, has anyone heard of it by chance?
In lots of ways, the writer is indeed wrong. A program like The BOSS should be built to last forever; it's a darn good program with practically the same capabilities as modern tools for small business. (Maybe better, in fact, since its UI doesn't look stupid :b).
In a case like The BOSS, which is made available to people who do not have the source code, anything that could possibly change needs to be changeable by the user in the event that the developer disappears.
So, yah, soft coding has it's places but that article made me suddenly realize that there is a line and it has been crossed when you start introducing LUA scripting so that you can manage simple game score rules "in a sane manner".