Re: postgres vs Mysql

From: Pham Nuwen (pham.nuwen3d6_at_libertydice.org)
Date: 11/21/03 

Date: Fri, 21 Nov 2003 19:31:36 GMT

Michael Fuhr wrote:
> Could you elaborate on what "dumb ass perl programmers" are doing
> that results in data corruption?

In our db the original contractor who programed this monstrousity
managed to build a table that takes logdata from one set of (DBF) files
and imports it into a table. Instead of doing this the intelligent way
with a proper table, he instead built a vertical monster that looks like
this (greatly simplified):

recordsetnumber | field | value | timestamp
========================================
1 aa 1 12:01
1 ab 3 12:01
1 aa 2 12:02
1 ab 5 12:02
2 aa 3 12:01
etc....

All in all not a mortal sin (ugly and stupid but not a sin), except that
  the timestamp that obviously has to be the unique key, was not produced
on the backend but taken from the client end in a user edititable field.
Thus the data now has no integrity. No actual data loss, just a UGLY
mess, that I'm having to support and clean up.

> What, if anything, are they doing that "dumb ass [pick any language]
> programmers" couldn't do?

Nothing it just happened to be perl in this case. However it did does
stem from a particular attitude I personally have found to be fairly
unique to the perl programmers I've meet. I don't mean to dispariage all
perl programmers, nor do I think any one language is better or worse
than another, but in my own experience I have found that many perl
programmers are far too lax about data integrity, and security. They
tend to spend more time making an unreadable mess, and vastly more
complicated program, than the task requires. I think it comes from the
web-programming attitude, of "well if that doesn't look right, we can
change it, and we don't have to worry about what it used to look like".
In my case however what it did look like is all too critical.

> In other words, is the language they're using really relevant?

Nope. 

-- 
/---+----+----+----+----+----+----++----+----+----+----+----+----+---\
I  pham.nuwen3d6@libertydice.org  II No nation was ever ruined by    I
I   http://www.libertydice.org    II trade, even seemingly the most  I
I     remove "3d6" to e-mail      II disadvantageous. - Ben Franklin I
\---+----+----+----+----+----+----++----+----+----+----+----+----+---/

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Perl is a poorly understood language ?
    ... No, it isn't an absolute requirement, just far too common. ... I think it's fair to say that programmers that know how to write clean, ... programmers than PERL programmers (dons asbestos suit waiting for the ... would agree that PERL is not a pretty language for human readability. ...
    (comp.programming)
  • Re: Parsing an HTML file - skipping to a line
    ... We did not become good Perl programmers through use of modules, ... good hand written code. ... There is a nickname for module users, ...
    (perl.beginners)
  • Re: Ruby for [...] programmers
    ... I've come across an online book concerning Ruby for Perl programmers but ... I've yet to find any for other languages. ... A programmers Ruby guide/tutorial. ...
    (comp.lang.ruby)
  • Re: Opinions on "new SomeObject" vs. "SomeObject->new()"
    ... >into the swamps of trying to derive guidelines with community consensus. ... >Remember that are hundreds of thousands of Perl programmers, ...
    (comp.lang.perl.misc)