Re: Mildly OT: dBASE IV

David Cressey wrote:
> "Frank Hamersley" <terabitemightbe_at_bigpond.com> wrote in message
> news:LUTeg.357$ap3.193_at_news-server.bigpond.net.au...
>

>> I never found Access "easy" to produce a truly professional outcome (by
>> my own standards).

I did in one case - with very limited scope. It worked and was within budget* except that budget was as per a "traditional" approach - i.e. no great productivity savings. The result was a bit sexier than a Clipper solution would have been, but no cheaper. However it required a huge level of diligence on my part to ensure everything was properly named, aligned etc. This all paid dividends later when maintenance was much easier.

> What I did with Access was "skunk works". These are products for my own
> use, that produce results I can either show to a customer, or use myself for
> decision support.

Yep - especially when Excel fades at 64k rows, Access seems OK for the next tier of row counts.

> For example, when gathering data to analyze the performance of an Rdb
> database, it can be useful to stuff the performance data into a database,
> in order to massage it. I found it to be useful to stuff in one the
> desktop, and NOT the VAX where the Rdb database was running, in order to
> reduce the Heisenberg effect.
>
> Need a one user database, that only the author can use, to massage data
> easily, and fits on the desktop, and is probably already on the desktop
> the customer provided you? Access is the ticket.

Agreed.

>>> For me,  even Oracle RDBMS was a step down from DEC Rdb, as a DBMS.
>>> However, as a programming environment, Oracle was a step up from Rdb.
>>>
>>> For the next 15 years or so, I spent helping people with Rdb and/or

>>> databases get more bang for the buck.  Perhaps that's why my experience

>>> so contrary to what Dawn recounts.
>> As is most peoples.  I don't discount that Dawn hasn't built workable
>> solutions using Pick but that doesn't say anything about the RM.  I have
>> built major gizmos using Excel but that says nothing about the RM either.

Apols.

> All I'm saying is that while I don't discount Dawn's anecdotal experience, I
> don't discount my own either. And my own experience does not support Dawn's
> conclusions.

Yep. I do agree with Bob on the need to stop throwing fuel on the fire though.

Cheers Frank. Received on Tue May 30 2006 - 14:19:55 CEST