Monthly Archives: December 2006

JRT-Dev, Rants, Using

I want to meet the developer(s) of Sybase SQL Advantage…

Version: 12.5.0.3/EBF 10752 IR/P/NT (IX86)/OS 4.0/Wed Jan 15 12:59:30 2003

Why? Because I want to ask them why it takes SQL Advantage ~16 seconds to process a query that returns 674 rows of ~70 columns each and display them in Grid or Text output, when I have written an application that goes through two additional API layers above the CT libraries, and can do the same thing (even in a Grid) in less than 2 seconds?

You actually have to go out of your way and TRY to write code that slow – that kind of lousy performance does not happen automatically. That is the kind of stupidity that has to be cultivated through bad practices.

I just want to know how someone could write such an app, and consider it suitable for release to the public. I need to know the mindset behind that, so I know what questions to ask potential employees during an interview so that they can be weeded out. I do not even want to sit next to someone like this, for fear of them making be dumber via osmosis.

I can only hope that the GUI developers are not the same ones that implement the underlying libraries or the RDBMS itself…

Rants

Just not getting it…

I came across a poster some time ago (I think on /.) that had an interesting signature. It read something along the lines of:

When someone says: Lead, follow or get out of the way, get in the way!

I remember thinking at the time that the poster could likely use some more experience in the real world and that (s)he suffered from a fundamental misunderstanding of how the world works. I was thinking that if you are ever in the above situation where something important is going on, or there is an emergency, getting in the way is the absolute last thing that you should do. I felt that situations like that are perfect times to apply the Universal Assumption – assume that they know something that you do not.

Now, it is a year or so later, and I have concluded… That I was exactly right. There is no reason why anyone in their right mind, when faced with a Lead, follow or get out of the way scenario, would assume that becoming an impediment would be the right thing to do.

Now, there are times when you should get in the way. But the prerequisite for that is actually knowing what is going on, knowing a better solution, and having a means to implement the solution. Otherwise, getting in the way is a sure way to get knocked on your ass.