Re: Is a Query langauge really necessary in an OODB?

Brian Price wrote:

> Is a query language really necessary in an OODB? Assume a small
> business database. I know what the OODB manifesto says, but practical
> experience tells me otherwise.

  I have one word for you: auditors.

  And there is a more general lesson here. Whenever programmers say that query languages impose overheads etc, they're right. But the real reason we have declarative (query language) interfaces to shared data has nothing to do with computer science or software engineering. You need query languages to protect you from end users.

   End users obfuscate their intentions, lie about their goals, change their minds, argue bitterly with each about nonsense, disappear, re-appear weeks later with different problems, and demand changes last week. Then they muck up the database you build for them, and make you repair it by hand, by midnight please. But they run the business, and that pays the bills.

   Query languages are like democracy. They're pretty shitty, but they're better than all the alternatives.

   KR

          Pb Received on Thu Mar 23 2000 - 00:00:00 CET