Upon reading the blogs at computerworld.com (or infoworld.com - I can't remember) I came across a PDF report on safe coding practices (which can be found here http://www.safecode.org/publications/SAFECode_Dev_Practices1008.pdf ).

While the PDF has some ideas on management oriented safe practices, it does delve a little into safe practices regarding technology. What it doesn't is how it applies to ABL coding.

Description

Some Progress Editor extensions, to add convenience and robustness to the developer.
Supported by all versions \ OS \ Terminal environments.
Open Source.
Author: Yuval Papish
Homepage: http://www.yuvcom.com/ProgressEditorExtensions

Overview
Given the need to enhance or transform a large existing ABL application, one is often hampered in the task by limited or out of date documentation. This project seeks to create a tool set that will read existing ABL code and the corresponding database to build a UML model of the application. This model can then be used for analysis and potentially can serve as the basis for future changes.

This project will consist of three stages:
1. Defining a UML "Profile" for ABL so that there are appropriate UML stereotypes to express the structural realities and relationships of ABL code and the corresponding dictionary.
2. Creating a tool for loading Progress dictionary information into a UML modeling tool using these stereotypes.
3. Creating a tool which will read and analyze ABL code and then load this information into a UML modeling tool using the stereotypes of the Profile.

This stage is directed at defining a UML Profile for ABL Code and Progress dictionary information. The goal is to arrive at an open standard since there will be far greater potential synergy if all people working on UML modeling are using a common vocabulary. This stage will occur in three phases: