Re: Declarative constraints in practical terms

"Frank Hamersley" <terabitemightbe_at_bigpond.com> wrote in message news:4XBLf.15219$yK1.8064_at_news-server.bigpond.net.au...
>
> >>I guess my interest is somewhat broader - encompassing not only the act
> >>of development, but the whole box and dice. Wholistic (sic) if you
like.
> >
> > And I was thinking I was being wholistic recognizing I wasn't looking
> > at peace on earth, but narrowing it down to what might be termed
> > business data processing. I am looking at developer productivity
> > within that, but that very much includes user success with the
> > software. I'm not looking at developers to just build software faster
> > no matter how good it is. I very much care about the box and dice too,
> > as best I can tell, but I might be missing something. What is the more
> > wholistic picture you ae addressing?
>
> Just that, the whole business - not just the data processing and
> definitely not just the programming. As you will recall I have pointed
> out on a few occasions that your written (if not cerebral) position is
> somewhat narrower and less corporate than that. I see that state of
> affairs as contributory to your incorrect (IMO) thinking on the RM (puts
> Little Red Book aside).

I've been following this thread for some time now, and I'm ready to break silence.

I think this whole discussion is yet another collision between the data centered view of information and the process centered view.

If your primary role is managing data, then declarative constraints make more sense than imperative ones. It's easier to figue out what their consequence is on the body of data you manage, and arrive at a concurring or dissenting opinion about whether the constraints are appropriate. In most of my database career, managing data, or helping people who managed data, was my primary role. I only did programming when necessary to acheive the larger goal.

If your primary role is prescribing process (in other words, programming) an imperative constraints may make more sense than declarative ones. I can't really speak to this. I programmed for twenty years before I got into databases, and I still know how to program. But I no longer look at the world through a programmer's eyes.

In spite of Dawn's protestations to the contrary, I believe she still does look at the information through the eyes of a programmer, and not the eyes of a manager, or certainly not those of a data manager. It shows up in every one of these discussions. Received on Fri Feb 24 2006 - 23:16:47 CET