Re: OK, it's the matter of database structure rather

John Kelly <jak@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

If I run 14 gauge wire to the electrical outlets of my house, instead
of 0 gauge, because I never imagine carrying a load of 100 amps to my
computer, that's a reasonable choice to make, due to the extra cost of
installing heavier wire. Admittedly, cost is something engineers have
to factor in.

But in programming, things are different.

I don't think it is as different as you propose. Cost of development is
real. Cost of deployment is real. Cost of execution is real.

There is no "real" cost of building a stronger algorithm which can
handle any possible, albeit unlikely, load of data, aside from the
extra mental effort required to think things all the way through.

Heh, I wrote my previous few sentences before noticing the word "real"
in your post. But I invite you to consider that including a "real"
database that can handle "any possible load" of data can be a whole lot
more costly than simply using a Tcl array in the fashion of "A simple
database" as set out on the http://wiki.tcl.tk/1598 page.

As for "extra mental effort" -- development time is a highly relevant
measure of software cost, and testing time is even more important.
Complexity comes with a cost.

That may not be how "engineers" are trained, but programmers should
be, because you never know what rocks a user may decide to throw at
your fragile little program.

Are you seriously suggesting that nobody should ever use anything but
the most powerful database engine available? That's what it sounds like.

Anything less, is just a lazy programmer's excuse.

1) Often, the programmer has complete knowledge of what kind of things
will need to be stored, and can thus make appropriate tradeoffs between
simplicity and capability.

2) You can certainly assume a largest reasonable rock even if you aren't
in control of them.

3) "Lazy programming" can actually be a valid methodology, often phrased
in the form "Do the simplest thing that can possibly work."
.

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