[LINK] The Ethics (!) of Dodgy Web Designers

[Karl Auer]

On Wed, 2007-04-18 at 07:37 +1000, Rick Welykochy wrote:
> It is called ACID. If you have never heard the term, or are not trained
> in even the basics espounded by the brilliant writer Date, you should
> not be let within striking distance of a database. It *IS* rocket
> science in this case.

You know, I get a bit tired of self-professed experts picking some
specific of a technology, declaring in-depth knowledge of that thing the
hallmark of competence, then demanding that those without said knowledge
shouldn't be permitted anywhere near their hallowed halls.

"If you don't know what DTR is, you shouldn't be allowed to use a
modem!"

"If you don't know what one's complement is, you shouldn't be allowed to
use a microchip!"

"If you don't know what encapsulation is, you shouldn't be allowed to
use a compiler!"

Now the self-righteous are thundering from the pulpit that "if you don't
know what ACID is, you shouldn't be allowed near a database!".

When we entered the age of literacy for everyone, the outraged halls of
the literati echoed to cries of "if they don't know what a gerund is,
they shouldn't be allowed to hold a pen!". As we entered the age of cars
for everyone, the cry was "if they don't know what a carburetor does,
they shouldn't be allowed to take the wheel!".

We are now entering - in fact we are well and truly IN - the age of
computing for everyone, and such cries are now, as they were then,
utter, utter bullshit. Truly. People with no idea what atomicity,
consistency, isolation or durability might be have written, are writing
and will continue to write useful stuff for you and me to use. The key
is "useful". If it isn't useful, it won't work, and people won't use it,
which in turn will drive the authors to do better, but no other
benchmark is remotely relevant. Of course, giving users viruses or
whatever definitely counts as "not useful" :-) and may cause the authors
to be beaten severely about the head and shoulders by way of additional
incentive to improve. It was ever thus.

But *noone* cares what's under the hood except the outraged computer
literati.

Right now, perhaps, you need to know about ACID to write a good database
application. But the tools will get better and eventually you won't. I
wonder what the cries from the pulpit will be then?

Regards, K.

-- 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Karl Auer (kauer at biplane.com.au)                   +61-2-64957160 (h)
http://www.biplane.com.au/~kauer/                  +61-428-957160 (mob)