I find it hard to believe that they are the only quality scripts/programs available out of the thousands listed on sites.

The third answer just explains the reasons behind my asking the question in the first place.

The authors do say "most" rather than "all" other programs are badly written. I mean, most of us here at least try to code carefully. Even if we don't all manage it, at least some of the more experienced monks do, surely?

__________
"Every program has at least one bug and can be shortened by at least one instruction -- from which, by induction, one can deduce that every program can be reduced to one instruction which doesn't work." -- (Author Unknown)

Well . . . .

Using the terms "scripts" and "applications" loosely nms may actually be the only good scripts out there. They are certainly the richest vein of quality scripts out there, the other quality ones are like needles in a haystack.

Of course there are some really solid applications out there, Everything2 and Slash are some good examples, but they are not what you need.

The only real problem with nms is that they are intended to be drop in replacements for lots of common CGI programs out there - meaning that they jump through a lot of hoops for backwards compatibility, and reinvent a lot of wheels to prevent the installer from heading to the CPAN.

If you're looking to encourage some good habits, start with nms and improve them leaving backwards compatibility behind. You'd probably learn something yourself along the way as well

Cheers,
Erik

Light a man a fire, he's warm for a day. Catch a man on fire, and he's warm for the rest of his life. - Terry Pratchet

I've certainly noticed how hard it is to find the needles - mostly because the haystack is continually growing.

The Everything2 and Slash programs are a little larger and more complex than the type I'm currently looking for. I'll keep them in mind when I've collected together decent examples of mainstream programs though.

I understand the nms team's reasons for limiting their initial releases, considering that their first objective was to offer drop-in replacements for those at Matt's Script Archive.

I'm hoping that now they've achieved this, they will expand the range available (which does seem to be their intention).

I'm not sure I'm competent enough (yet) to attempt to improve upon their code, and by the time I am, they will probably have done so themselves.

I actually have another program in mind for my first large project, which they don't currently offer and that I have been trying to find an example of for my own use for some time now (without success).

I will definitely be looking to their code for inspiration however.

__________
"Every program has at least one bug and can be shortened by at least one instruction -- from which, by induction, one can deduce that every program can be reduced to one instruction which doesn't work." -- (Author Unknown)

I don't know if nms are the "only" quality scripts out there, but along with merlyn's, they are the best I have seen.

--
Regards,
Helgi Briem
helgi AT decode DOT is