Chapter 24: Programming Principles

1
Spreadsheet-Based Decision Support Systems
Chapter 24 Programming Principles
Prof. Name
name_at_email.com Position
[phone] University Name
2
Overview

• 24.1 Programming Practices
• 24.2 Clarity
• 24.3 Efficiency
• 24.4 Summary

3
Programming Practices

• We summarize here what we feel are some important
  issues when coding in VBA for spreadsheet-based
  DSS development.
• We categorize these issues as follows coding
  with a consistent style using naming standards
  having clear comments and increasing coding
  efficiency.

4
Clarity

• Consistent Style
• Naming
• Documentation

5
Consistent Style

• Use a consistent style for formatting,
  organizing, and commenting your code.
• Indenting not clear
• If A is True Then
• actions 1
• ElseIf B is True Then
• actions 2
• End If
• Clearer indenting style
• If A is True Then
• actions 1
• ElseIf B is True Then
• actions 2
• End If

6
Naming

• Use naming standards for variables and
  procedures.
• MinVal, SumProfit, MaxPrice
• FindMinCost, GetUserInfo
• Naming standards also apply to control names and
  specific data types, such as Boolean.
• IsDone, DoAnimation

7
Documentation

• Make comments clear throughout the code.
• Describe procedure functionality and loop and
  logical flow.

8
Efficiency

• Always look for ways to improve your coding
  efficiency.
• Avoid redundancies and unnecessary code.
• Static structure
• For i 1 to 10
• do actions
• Next i
• Dynamic structure
• For i 1 to NumProducts
• do actions
• Next i

9
Efficiency (cont)

• Static structure
• Dim CostArray(10) as Double
• Dynamic structure
• Dim CostArray() As Double, CostSize As Integer
• ReDim CostArray(CostSize)
• --------------------------------------
• Static structure
• paste in output table
• Range(A1).PasteSpecial
• Dynamic structure
• Dim OutputTable As Range
• Set OutputTable Range(A1)
• OutputTable.PasteSpecial

10
Summary

• The most important programming principles are
  writing with a consistent style, using naming
  standards, including clear comments, and
  improving code efficiency.
• It is important to have a clear, readable, and
  understandable code.
• Documentation is an important part of any
  programming project. We accomplish documentation
  by placing comments throughout our code.
• We should continuously be working to improve our
  code by reducing the complexity of the logic and
  the time required.

11
Additional Links

• (place links here)