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Potholes in the Road of Progress

  • September 8, 2022 at 3:11 am

    #4085186

    MMartin1 wrote:

    Jeff Moden wrote:

    The article doesn't touch on the opposite effects.  While I certainly support and encourage research, experimentation, etc, etc, ad infinitum, you can't just go and do things because they're new or cool or the latest and greatest.

    A really good example of this is the PowerShell craze that finally seems to be settling down to practical things.  One of the "great" examples of using PowerShell was using it to centralize all backups.  Let's think about that for a minute.  That means one machine has to have privs to all the other machines, so what happens if someone breaks in to that one machine?  They may have the keys to the empire.  And what happens to all those machines when the one machine breaks down?  Log files start exploding.

    Then there's the cool new things that you implement... and they last just until you upgrade SQL Server again.  Nice.

    Heh... and finally, there's the "old tool being replaced" problem.  My favorite example here is the old sp_MakeWebTask stored procedure.  It was fully documented, fully supported, incredibly easy to use, flexible enough to do just about anything you needed to. would even respond to style sheets, and... it's long gone.  Instead of being able to do some remarkable stuff through T-SQL, now you have to either write some trick code or you have to stand up an instance of SSRS.

    Heh... and remember the fiasco when they came out with 64 bit SQL Server?  They didn't include the old "JET" drivers and when asked, MS said "use SSIS".  Gee... <sarcasm on> Why would anyone in their right mind ever want to import a spreadsheet using only T-SQL"? <sarcasm off>  People had to scramble to change one hell of a lot of ETL code to go to 64 bit just because of it.   Eventually MS gave into the pressure and created the "ACE" drivers but they're a poor comparison to the old "JET" drivers.

    So while I agree that people should be allowed to explore their ideas, they also need to take a little responsibility for their actions.  As a lot of folks have said or implied, "Nothing is impossible"... that should also make people realize that just because you can do something with new, too-cool-for-school tools, doesn't mean you should especially if it has to do with databases.

    To your thought Jeff, I can throw a new dimension in here. There are those who invent because of passion and vision, and there are those who do it for job security (So they can answer the question"what have you done for me lately.") Obviously there is no comparison in quality to something thought out to the inventor's liking versus getting something out so you an point that you did something , anything.

    Heh... well said, especially that last paragraph.  My cousin used to say that the mantra of such people is, "Well!  We have to do SOMETHING, even if it's wrong".  😀

    --Jeff Moden

    RBAR is pronounced "ree-bar" and is a "Modenism" for Row-By-Agonizing-Row.
    First step towards the paradigm shift of writing Set Based code:
    ________Stop thinking about what you want to do to a ROW... think, instead, of what you want to do to a COLUMN.

    Change is inevitable... Change for the better is not.

    Helpful Links:
    How to post code problems
    How to Post Performance Problems
    Create a Tally Function (fnTally)

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