Re: Stupid Database Tricks
Date: Fri, 25 May 2007 04:30:29 GMT
Message-ID: <FDt5i.8082$hw.4094_at_trndny08>
"-CELKO-" <jcelko212_at_earthlink.net> wrote in message
news:1180059023.901581.101860_at_k79g2000hse.googlegroups.com...
> >> Drives me crazy, too. I'm not sure why. Maybe it's because it's such
persistent mythology. <<
>
> Hey, I have looong rants on this topic. I like to pull out the Dr.,
> Codd quotes about what a surrogate key really is and then mention that
> the Kabbalah also thinks that everything is keyed by God with a 17-
> digit Hebrew number as its true name.
>
> >> I may have discovered at least one origin of this bad design habit ..
Access 97. It turns out that, if you build a database with one of the
database wizards, this is usually what you get. <<
>
> I like to to think that it is an attempt to mimic a pointer chain file
> system in SQL, but without the double linkage, utility programs, etc.
> that made them actually work.
Good thought. A lot of people who propound this stupid trick as a "best practice" are thinking in terms of chains of pointers. It's the revenge of the CODASYL Zombies. Received on Fri May 25 2007 - 06:30:29 CEST