creating usable records - warning: long question

[Bill Vermillion]

On Mon, May 31, 2004 at 10:43:13AM -0400, Jay R. Ashworth thus
spoke:

> On Mon, May 31, 2004 at 12:54:41AM -0400, John Esak wrote:
>
> >    I suppose I could say I'm curious and ask why you need to
> >    do things this way, but you don't have to tell me... no
> >    need to defend the idea... it's enough that you are doing
> >    it and feel you need to... but I submit to you that there
> >    is _nothing_ that you can do using a record-number-based
> >    system that can't be done far better with a unique
> >    numbered field.

> And of course you're correct.  But in Lee's defense, he *did* say:

> >    Also... I know that the reason I need to do such a thing
> >    is a mistake made many years ago to use record numbers as
> >    ID numbers under certain circumstances. I know it is not
> >    good programming, but it has not burned me very many times
> >    and to change now would not be worth it.

> so clearly, he already knows that, and is stuck between the proverbial
> rock and hard place.

I had to change a system over from record number to another method
becuas things were always going wrong, things could not be found,
etc. 

It took a lot of work, but once it was done it was flawless.  

Lee's comment is "it has not burned me very many times"  and also
"to change it now would not be worth it".

Who is to say that the burn next time might not be worse, and that
fixing it now would not be better.  Only Lee can answer that, but
I found that fixing things that are broken means fewer things to
break in the future.

It also goes along with the way things are sometimes done, and one
person who worked with me would not do something the right way he'd
say "I didn't have enough time to do it the right way".

And I'd ask "If you don't have enough time to do it the right way
now, when are you going to have enough time in the future to come
back and fix it".

Having an engineering background and working at least part of my
life in broadcast where missing a 10 second deadline means you have
missed it completely and it could be $NNNNN out the window, I tend
to look at things a bit differently.  The funny thing about time is
that once it's gone, it's gone forever.

Bill

-- 
Bill Vermillion - bv @ wjv . com