Programmers, please read...

[sarettah]

Originally posted by Hell Puppy@Mar 25 2005, 12:29 AM
A program of any complexity at all will be written 10 different ways by 10 different programmers. And each one of them thinks their way is the best and will be more than willing to defend that position vigorously with deep geeky explanations.

When I used to teach programming and would be asked about the right way versus the wrong way, I explained it this way:

If I give the same problem to one million programmers I will get one million different solutions. If they all have the right output, then they are all right. Some may be more efficient, some may be prettier, some may be faster but if they all produce the correct results then they are all right....

Hard concept for folks that have been wired since birth to "a right way versus a wrong way" with no greay in between to grab onto...

HellPuppy nailed it on the database design.. It is very easy to undernormalize a database, which leads to lots of inefficiencies and it is just as easy to over normalize a database, which again leads to inefficiencies... It is a balancing act that takes first, a good design and secondly tuning to realities..

I can take a simple database and just through poor use of indexes and poor design have it run at a snails pace or I can take a very complex data structure and through proper use of indexes and good design have it run flat out fast as hell....

It is all in the design. That's what folks don't seem to get.


















(and it is all sequential no matter what anyone tells you)