Re: Anybody home?

[EFJ@asbhr.byu.edu]

You are absolutely right on all counts Ted! ...
>
> For the reasons you stated, I rarely respond to inquiries regarding the
> programs we use.  I am both a programmer and a CHP and I wrote the system that
> has been in use and served us well here at the University of Illinois-Urbana.
> I wrote it in the early eaghties and it has evolved from a tiny little
> Pascal-coded database to a full blown DBASE IV mess.  The few times I've
> showed it to people, either of two things happens: 1-they don't like it because
> it's not written in their favorite language and it doesn't fit their
> enterprise, or 2-it's the best thing since sliced bread and they want it and
> they want a copy and I have to do a mountain of work to provide them with
> a copy that is fully documented so they understand it.  Of course, I never
> get around to documenting it :-)
>

I would like to respectfully disagree with the comments made in the
last two responses on this thread.

It is true that anyone attempting to read and or use any of the
FORTRAN code that I have created would find the project daunting if
not impossible.  I would also grant that anyone who can decifer
another's assembly code is fit for a place in heaven.  However, I
have picked up other people's database systems written using Paradox,
Dataease, and Dataperfect and been able to not only understand the
structure and intent but also make changes in the systems to upgrade
or simplify them.

If a person were to use one of the database management systems in
current use,  especially some of the pc based Windows programs.  I
believe that a reasonably sophisticated relational database can be
constructed that is not only adequate but also maintainable.   I
freely grant that if you use C++ or some other language to customize
the program, additional bells and whistles can be made, and the
program becomes more difficult to maintain or transfer.  But
I don't think C++ code  is necessary to create a functional
system.

If, for example, an institution created their HP database using
Paradox for Windows (I personally hate GUI's but they seem to have
their place in the pc world)  anyone else with
relatively little sophistication could take that database and use it
to develop their own custom system.

If the tables are normalized and the structure clearly organized the
relational database created using modern pc based database management
systems should be reasonably portable.


______________________________________________________________________

Name: Edwin Jackson
EFJ@ASBHR.BYU.EDU
Environmental Coordinator
Brigham Young University
(801)-378-5779