intertwingly

It’s just data

Secular Simplicity


DJ Adams: Allow me to paraphrase taking the world of SQL as an example: "...but making me understand which tables are which, and the difference between SELECT and UPDATE ... isn't".

I'm old enough to remember when relational databases were controversial.  Real programmers accessed their data by knowing the actual cylinder, head, and record number at which it resided.  These days, programmers insist upon being able to access their data without knowing which cylinders are which.  What a bunch of pansies.

Question to ponder: why are there so many object relational mapping frameworks out there?  Look at how this one allows one to create, update retrieve, and delete one's data.

What is simplicity?  We all think we know what it is. 

To some, WSDL is the epitome of simplification.  I can take a URL, drag and drop it into my favorite IDE, and then everything — including command completion and type safety — just works.  I can access the remote objects as if they were local, without knowing what server they reside on or what language they were written in.

And then there are people like me, whose favorite IDE is vim.  To me, blosxom is the zen of blogging.  Databases?  We don't need no stinkin' databases.