[AccessD] OT:Old Dog, New Tricks - Ferrari's ?

Jim Lawrence accessd at shaw.ca
Fri Jan 14 11:09:17 CST 2011


Impressive.

Jim



-----Original Message-----
From: accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com
[mailto:accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] On Behalf Of Gustav Brock
Sent: Wednesday, January 12, 2011 1:01 PM
To: accessd at databaseadvisors.com
Subject: Re: [AccessD] OT:Old Dog, New Tricks - Ferrari's ?

Hi Drew et all

How to assemble 110 gears - including differential gears - to a meaningful
machine - in LEGO:

Lego Antikythera Mechanism
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RLPVCJjTNgk

Watch in HD and full screen.

/gustav


>>> DWUTKA at marlow.com 12-01-2011 21:27 >>>
Actually Mark, I think a better analogy would be to say that Access is
like Legos, and .Net (or any other actual true programming language) is
like a full blown machine shop.

First, inexperienced users can use legos, but what they make will
usually be a disaster (plus they tend to put the little pieces in their
mouth and choke on them), where as an inexperienced user would give up
in a machine shop, or just be too scared to walk in it.  Experienced and
skilled pros can make works of art with both legos and in a full blown
machine shop.... however the skill sets do vary between the two.

Second, with legos, a lot of the 'tricky' parts are already molded and
ready to go (like Jet, DAO, Reports, etc).  With legos, you don't have
to build a tree out of tiny pieces, you can just use the preformed tree
pieces, yet you can still build the tree from scratch if you want too
(bound/unbound).  With a machine shop, you have lots of tools, tools
that allow you to build pretty much anything you want, but you don't
have a lot of 'pre-formed' pieces, so you have to build them from
scratch.  (Of course, like a good machine shop, when you build a custom
tool, you can easily use that same tool in another project, so you
really only have to do something super useful once, then re-use it).

Third, legos aren't suited for all environments. If you need to build
something that'll hold up to 300 degree temps (or run across a VPN
connection), legos might work, but probably not too well.  To improve
them, you have to go outside of the lego world, and use some special
coating (scrap jet for a SQL Server backend). With a machine shop, you
can build the tool/project to suit the environment.

Fourth, let's face it, how many engineers or mechanics didn't bite their
teeth on legos as a kid.  They make a great starting point for people
new to the field.  Where as walking into a machine shop on the first day
of kindergarten.... you'll hurt yourself.

Fifth, legos have a public perception of being a toy, but people who are
damn good at what they do have created wondrous creations using that
'toy' that wouldn't have been the same using any other medium, and
fulfill their purpose to the Tee.  Along these same lines, there are
people skilled enough to use a machine shop, who probably laugh at
someone using legos, but who still produce garbage, that won't hold up
to a skilled lego project.

Sixth, the Legos Group continues to sell and market their product to
people they expect to use it as a toy (nice little dig to M$ ;)).

Seventh, and most importantly, the only thing legos and a machine shop
have in common is that they can produce things.  Neither of them are
designed for all projects.  The true skill is to know what project
should use which environment.

Drew


-----Original Message-----
From: accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com 
[mailto:accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] On Behalf Of Mark Simms
Sent: Wednesday, January 12, 2011 11:10 AM
To: 'Access Developers discussion and problem solving'
Subject: Re: [AccessD] OT:Old Dog, New Tricks - Ferrari's ?

While there is no question that John needed dot-net due to a multi-threading
requirement, before making the commitment, you've got to ask yourself:
How many Ferrari's are you asked to build ?

Dot-net is a Ferrari-building tool. It takes a lot longer to build anything
with a complex toolset.
I think Access builds Chevy's very fine and very quickly.

But if you need to build a Ferrari, by all means move up to dot-net.
Super-fancy GUI ? Access can't do it. Multi-threading ? Access can't do
it.

Note: since no one understands the software business, so I'm stuck on using
these analogies to explain things to end-users. Sorry, didn't mean to offend
anyone.


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