From: DF
To: Editor
Date: 23 Aug 2004
1. In regards to the quote of the week (which are usually
very entertaining in a macabre sort of way):
Interesting, and proof that Joe Celko is an idiot more
interested in academic arguments than real world systems. Any app[lication]
that uses business data (ISBN, SSN, VIN, UPC, etc) as keys is pretty much
guaranteed to break.
--Anonymous Coward, slashdot.org
I worked peripherally with the VA Consolidated Health Care
System in the late 80s. They were
originally going to use social security numbers as the primary key into patient
records -- until they discovered that SSN's were not unique (evidently at one
point a husband and wife could share a SSN). One of the real problems with
designing systems is that the designers do not fully understand the problem
domain (and as your site points out, seldom understand the solution domain).
2. Related to this is a quote that I saw attributed to Leonardo
da Vinci (and I apologize for not remembering where I saw it):
Those who are enamored of practice without theory are like a
pilot who goes into a ship without rudder or compass and never has any
certainty where he is going. Practice should always be based upon a sound
knowledge of theory.
3. On a [mostly] unrelated side note, how much of the failure
of the University system is the direct result of industry influence versus the
failure of the primary and secondary education system? This of course is a semi-rhetorical
question.
4. Keep up the good work.
From: Fabian Pascal
To: DF
1.
Indeed. The point of the quote is, of course, that Celko has
nothing academic about him. I am willing to bet that few understood that. Of
course.
2.
I used it in my editorial The Myth of Market-based
Education.
3.
They are both parts of one social system. There is no reason
to expect them to be much different.
4.
We do remind those who appreciate the value of the effort to
support it concretely via our paper series and, where possible, organize
education in their area.
Posted
10/29/04
