Re: WHAT vs HOW vs WHERE

On Sat, 29 May 2004 08:42:21 -0400, "Laconic2" <laconic2_at_comcast.net> wrote:

>In my view, pointers are "good things" not "bad things".

They are good when they are hidden to users.

> But there are
>plenty of "good things" that will harm you if you don't use them right.

For instance if you expose pointers to users.

>In the RDBMS implementations that used tables and indexes to represent
>relations and navigational aids, there are plenty of pointers.

Hidden to users.

> Indexes
>are full of pointers.

Indexes are obsolete :-)

>On the subject of WHAT vs HOW, I don't even place pointers on that
>spectrum.

Pointers are about HOW. How to transverse access paths.

> Pointers are about WHERE, not about WHAT or HOW. Indexes
>juxtapose WHAT (the index key) with WHERE (the pointer to the row).

Indexes are about HOW.

Regards
  Alfredo Received on Sat May 29 2004 - 11:58:24 CDT