Re: Data Constraints Vs Application Constraints

On Fri, 11 Mar 2005 11:34:34 GMT, FrankHamersley <FrankHamersleyZat_at_hotmail.com> wrote:

>> The most probable reason is: incompetence.
>
>Hmmm ... smells like dogma!

Do you know a more probable reason for a bad done job?

>Be wary here...incompetents don't actually achieve the desired results

No, you are wrong. Incompetents might achieve the results desired by them: bad results.

>>>if they code things in the
>>>client, their app will run against many databases. According to you this
>>>worked, so I would ask why change it? Technically it may be "wrong" but
>>>technically they somehow got it working and are a big company, so they must
>>>be doing something right?
>>
>> No, that does not mean that they are doing things right.
>
>Dogma now apparently flying in the face of a fat balance sheet.

Do you mean that if you work for a big company this implies that you do things right?

>> But the honest and professional behavior is to say the truth.
>
>I restate my case that IT&T is not yet a profession

Of course it is a profession, but it is not engineering.

> and the truth rarely
>is.

That's nonsense, there are many truths we can know.

> The next best thing is to consider "if it ain't broke, don't fix
>it" and IMO its a good guideline to consult the "business" to see if its
>broken.

I was not talking about to fix anything and to not be broken does not imply a well done job.

>Fair call - always a personal decision without a professional bodies
>documented standards of behaviour to draw on - just remember "believe
>nothing of what you hear and only half of what you see" before making
>potentially irrevocable judgements.

I did not made any judgement, I was talking about probablity taking into account my knowledge and experience. BTW Jonathan agreed with me.

>Personally, as a bit of a cynic, I am yet to be convinced (but remain
>open to suggestion) about the benefits of an all encompassing
>referential and cascading schema etc. I can recognise the apparent
>desirability of these aims but remain suspicious of the marketing types
>who glow about this feature or that.

That's not apparent desirability only, this is a well stablished scientific principle.

Regards Received on Fri Mar 11 2005 - 13:10:09 CET