Shamil Salakhetdinov
shamil at smsconsulting.spb.ru
Wed Jun 24 18:10:49 CDT 2009
Hi Gustav, Yes, "the single exit point is not a B/W discussion" (as most of the others we keep under this thread) - did I say I'd not use the same construct you presented in your posting? - in fact I mean I can use both depending on how I will come to my solution/what case I will program first... As for "PK great debate" - I'm now just guessing that ADO.NET Entity Framework could break one of the last and most "rigid" of my habits to use AutoNumber/Identity PK for all and every tables, and not only for lookup tables but also for relation tables: using of AutoNumber/Identity PK comes IMO mainly from technical/common sense (but again based on technical issues(?)) reasons, and ADO.NET Entity Framework, I guess, can "annul all that reasons", and cascade update can help to solve "fragile" natural primary key issue (hear, hear (JC ? :)) - cascade update is the greatest evils - and I do not use it currently...). And there could be GUID field introduced instead of Autonumber/Identity PK - but just to keep "object identity" in this becoming so distributed world with myriad times replicated data objects... -- Shamil -----Original Message----- From: accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com [mailto:accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] On Behalf Of Gustav Brock Sent: Thursday, June 25, 2009 1:48 AM To: accessd at databaseadvisors.com Subject: Re: [AccessD] Primary keys and entry points (was: Learning .Net -- PHP Instead?) Hi Shamil You may do so but why would you? If you don't have an Id as the primary key of the underlying table, you will have to construct one, and I just don't think it is worth wasting time on this when applying an Id resolves the task in a second. I even apply the Id to a table of countries because the ISO codes _may_ change (rarely I know) but - more importantly - I don't have to decide for using the alpha or the numeric ISO code as the key. As for the single exit point, I don't think this a B/W discussion. Sometimes it is convenient to drop out at once when a simple condition is not met as in the example from the link: if (account == null) return; at the top of a method. However, I wouldn't put this somewhere many lines down as it is impossible to read; if you find such a line you will have to study every other part to look for similar lines. Thus, I much prefer the traditional construct: if (account != null) { // 20 lines of code // (that are totally irrelevant if account is null) // later... } // and out we pop This you can browse in a split second, and should you later need to apply some code for the case (account == null) it is very easy to insert that following an "else". /gustav >>> shamil at smsconsulting.spb.ru 24-06-2009 20:41 >>> <<< Natural PKs on the other hand... ;) >>> Hi John, Do you mean "great PK debate"? :) I feel that I will soon give up even "use Autonumber/Identity field for every table" principle, which I do strictly follow for many years, in the case ADO.NET Entity Framework will become my main Data Access/Manipulation technology... It's unbelievable... -- Shamil -----Original Message----- From: accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com [mailto:accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] On Behalf Of jwcolby Sent: Wednesday, June 24, 2009 8:16 PM To: Access Developers discussion and problem solving Subject: Re: [AccessD] Learning .Net -- PHP Instead? And I contend that if the garbage collector is airtight then the need is less. VBA OTOH has a garbage collector that belongs to a union, it only works on Mondays, Wednesdays, the third Fridays and never on holidays. Unless of course it is just out on strike... I think from reading the articles and the comments underneath that there is no consensus. An opinion is an opinion is an opinion. Man is a rationalization machine and while you can rationalize as many exit points as you want, I can rationalize only a single exit point. Natural PKs on the other hand... ;) John W. Colby www.ColbyConsulting.com Shamil Salakhetdinov wrote: > Hi Arthur and Charlotte, > > I used to use the same "one exit point" principle over the years (especially > in my VBA programming) but I must note it's becoming obsolete nowadays: I do > not use it almost at all anymore in my C#/VB.NET development. > > Have a look what is the reasoning behind this "new approach" to not bother > about "one exit point" principle: > > http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=631745 > > http://discuss.joelonsoftware.com/default.asp?joel.3.325456.34 > > Everything seems to be changing in programming these days but one who has > been in programming for some time can rather clearly see we're "just" > getting repeating/rethinking of "good old habits" but on higher current > level of evolution spiral of computer science, programming methods and > practices... > > Thank you. > > -- > Shamil -- AccessD mailing list AccessD at databaseadvisors.com http://databaseadvisors.com/mailman/listinfo/accessd Website: http://www.databaseadvisors.com __________ Information from ESET NOD32 Antivirus, version of virus signature database 4186 (20090624) __________ The message was checked by ESET NOD32 Antivirus. http://www.esetnod32.ru __________ Information from ESET NOD32 Antivirus, version of virus signature database 4186 (20090624) __________ The message was checked by ESET NOD32 Antivirus. http://www.esetnod32.ru