Re: SQL vs V5R1 and service woes

On Fri, 07 September 2001, "R. Bruce Hoffman, Jr." wrote:

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Joe Pluta <joepluta@PlutaBrothers.com>
> To: midrange-l@midrange.com <midrange-l@midrange.com>
> Date: Thursday, September 06, 2001 11:08 PM
> Subject: RE: SQL vs V5R1 and service woes
>
>
> >This in fact is a common
> >misconception: if you use SQL, you can change your database more easily.
>
> >"Easier" in this case meant that you could add a field to both files
> without
> >changing the SQL statement.  This is only the case when using "SELECT *",
> >and my belief is that "SELECT *" really isn't really a common use, except
> in
> >a subselect.
>
> This is not quite true. If you are using SELECT *, then adding fields to the
> file means that the program must be able to deal with the new fields that
> are added to the files, just like if you were using native I/O, the
> structure of the target changes and the program must be recompiled. You
> actually allude to that in your next statement.


This is in line with my SQL experience. I often use SQL explicitly to avoid 
problems from modified databases (and therefore seldom use 'SELECT *' in 
programming).

Similarly, when I create a DDS LF, I also prefer explicitly listing every field 
rather than implicitly including all fields. Among other thing, this helps 
avoid the need to recompile every program that uses the LF except programs that 
need new fields.

Tom Liotta



--
Tom Liotta
The PowerTech Group, Inc.
19426 68th Avenue South
Kent, WA 98032
Phone  253-872-7788
Fax  253-872-7904
http://www.400Security.com


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