RE: Multi-member files - Big picture feedback

This is so funny.  We rarely see this these days, but there are still a few
pockets of resistance: the "all Java" crowd is one, while the "all SQL"
crowd is another.  If someone were to say "write everything in JavaScript",
or "only use MI", they'd be (rightly) laughed out of the room.  But yet
there are still some people who insist on a single tool, although they have
been winnowed down to Java and SQL (I'm not sure if .NET qualifies, and of
course you don't have a choice there -- once you go .NET, you're locked in).

Anyway, I'm not going to belabor the point.  Suffice to say that the right
tool is the best one for the job.  The beauty of the iSeries is that you can
use ISAM and SQL access AT THE SAME TIME with no loss of function.  Most
folks see that as a win-win.

What's really funny, though, is that Dave is actually partially right in
that the best tool for DEFINING your database may well be DDL.  There are
pluses and minuses like anything else, but DDL has some significant
benefits, the foremost being that data is verified on the write, not the
read.

However, Dave then makes the mistake lots of SQL fundamentalists make by
equating DDL definition with SQL access, which is quite incorrect; even Dr.
Codd allowed non-SQL access to RDBMS data.  True, until recently it was only
DB2/400 that gave it to you (although there is some muttering amongst the
crowd that other RDBMSes may eventually support some of our more standard
keyed access functionality).

Anyway, the long and short of it is that, if you have the time, take a
serious look at using DDL to create your files.  There are a number of
benefits and very few drawbacks.  Especially once you realize that you can
still ACCESS your data using traditional native I/O or SQL.

Joe

> From: Dave Odom
> 
> If the latter, you have to make the mental transition from the old way
> to the new using only SQL commands and functions, all the way from
> CREATE COLLECTION/SCHEMA on down.