Cross platform development question.?

I asked this in another section too.





Recently I was given an assignment to develop code in C++ to automate some administrative tasks. The job was advertised as a Unix development position and an Oracle back end. Come to find out that they expected me to develop the application for cross platform execution for Windows XP with a SQL server back end.





As if that wasn't bad enough, they expected me to do this using only ISO Standard C++ with a Gnu compiler and an old Vis. C++ compiler with no documentation. No DB libraries (AFAIK), no cross-platform libs, nothing. Not only that, but they had no requirements docs %26amp; no plan.





I had suggested doing the project in Python, but it was dismissed as he had no Python programmers to maintain it.





They wanted me to design and implement the system, but they did not want give me written requirements or the leeway to use tools of my choosing. And they wanted it in 3 to 5 months.





So the question is, was this as impossible a task as I thought it was

Cross platform development question.?
If you don't have written requirements, then yes it's an impossible task - without anything written down, requirements can and probably will change faster than you can do the programming. If no written requirements were provided, you might have to write the draft requirement document yourself from your understanding of what is being asked for, circulate it to everyone affected and to your boss, and request input on anything that's wrong - that way at least YOUR backside is covered, and you might even be able to find out what they really want if you get really lucky.





I know that IT classes all stress that complete documentation is critical. I spent over 30 years in the IT field, part on the tech side, part on the management side, and eventually realized that it just never quite happens. It's something that programmers always end up dealing with. If you're lucky, there is at least SOME documentation, or at least the person who wrote the pieces that are there is still available, but even that doesn't always happen. And as to what you write it in - they get to make that decision, not you, even if their way isn't the best.





I sympathize, even empathize, but the bottom line is if you were given the task, you need to figure out how to get it done within the parameters you are given if you intend to stay employed at your current company.





Good luck.

flowering plum