I can see your arguement regarding SQL within one's code, but doesn't
your arguement fail to hold up if we assume that the SQL is fully
"compliant"?
In other words, if the makers of WWWThreads had stuck with standard SQL,
rather than using any non-standard features of MySQL like last inserted
ID, wouldn't their code be useable on Oracle, for example (assuming we
changed the correct var to tell DBI we are using Oracle now) ?
Just trying to make sure I understand what all the fuss is about.
Jon R.
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
>
>
> -------- Original Message --------
> Subject: Re: Not embedding SQL in perl
> Date: Wed, 01 Aug 2001 15:56:00 -0400
> From: kyle dawkins <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> To: Henrik Edlund <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> References: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>
>
>
> Henrik Edlund wrote:
>
>> And while we are discussing "not cutting corners", those who still use
>> MySQL should switch to a real DBMS before they even think of abstracting
>> the SQL away from their Perl code.
>>
>> That people still use MySQL really shows how many lusers there are with
>> computers that try to develop real software. I said _try_.
>>
>> *sigh*
>>
>
> Henrik
>
> Not sure if you're aware of it, but that argument is pretty old. We're
> onto a much more interesting, new argument now. :-)
>
> Seriously though, you're right, MySQL is not a "real" RDBMS. No
> transactions, no foreign key constraints, no stored procedures. It is,
> however, free, and in use in a lot of places. And interestingly enough,
> in a way that makes the current argument even MORE important; writing
> SQL into your code (as per the current thread of discussion) will make
> it exponentially more difficult for you to move to a "real" RDBMS as
> Henrik urges you to. If you abstract DB access into a middleware layer,
> you will have a much, much easier time. By placing SQL into your
> application code, you are removing the flexibility of changing your
> persistence mechanism at a later date. And believe it or not, that's
> not as uncommon as you might think.
>
> I cite the example of wwwthreads here... it's a great BBS, runs under
> mod_perl, is fast, and has a DB backend. However, the source is
> LITTERED with SQL, and everywhere there's a line of SQL, the dude has to
> put an "if" conditional around it to check if the installation is using
> MySQL or something else, because MySQL has numerous features that are
> not found elsewhere (last inserted id, REPLACE command, LIMIT m,n)...
> so, twice the number of SQL statements in code that (in my opinion)
> should not have any SQL in it at all...
>
> It's all food for thought (I hope).
>
> Kyle
> Software Engineer
> Central Park Software
> http://www.centralparksoftware.com
