On 4/1/2014 5:01 PM, Steve Newcomb wrote:
> (e) There is no "getting it right". There is only fitness for purpose
> in context.
>
> Change the purpose and/or the context, and it's usually wrong. Even
> (actually, especially) at the table level. A table is inevitably and
> inextricably bound to a perspective.
That's why a good data model is essential, especially one that includes
some of the context. It's only later that the time comes to choose xml
(or not) for interchange, or table design for the database.
OTOH, if you have the context and perspective, you can accomplish a lot.
I know a man who had to come up with a new large enterprise database
system for a client. All he had to work with was the old IBM terminal
screens - I think it was screen grabs of the terminal screens, in fact.
No code, no database design, no business rules. He developed a
relational database system to do the same things that had been done with
the terminal screens. It was a big success.
TomP
