[plug] SQL question

[Bret Busby]

On Thu, 12 Sep 2002, Colin Muller wrote:

> 
> > Why not use a PostgreSQL back end, and a Perl front end?
> > 
> > If a Windows platform is needed for the front end, there is
> > ActivePerl for Windows. 
> > 
> > That way, it should also make the migration to a web interface
> > simpler, shouldn't it?
> > 
> > From my understanding, using the more direct Perl interface (to
> > PostgreSQL), rather than going via ODBC, would increase efficiency.
> 
> It all depends on how big a step the programmers are willing to take.
> If they currently program in VB to ODBC, then plugging in a back-end
> (like Postgres with ODBC) which enables them to carry on doing that is
> the most user-friendly approach. As ever in the Linux story, starting
> with the backend like this leads inexorably to changes in the middle
> layer as well, and then much, much later, at the front end; but trying
> to get people to do it all at once is likely to disrupt their business
> and provide too many reasons for them to tell you the change belongs
> in the too-hard basket.
> 
> Colin
> 
> 
> 

I think people are assuming that the programmers can't program in Perl.

I was suggesting that it should be considered; using Perl as the front 
end (then making the migration to a web interface alot less trouble; it 
could be done via CGI scripts, from the start), or, asking, why not do 
it that way.

The bottom line is, that, while Jon said that the front end will be done 
using VB, no reasoning was given, and, the programmers' capabilities 
were not mentioned.

It could be that the programmers are capable of doing it in Perl. It 
could be that the programmers regard Perl as I regard sendmail - 
sorcery.

It could also be that the client requires the front end to be programmed 
in VB.

I think that this is one of the instances, where the quote in my 
signature applies.

We are all making assumptions, in our responses, based on insufficient 
information.

"More input! More input!" - the robot in Short Circuit

-- 
Bret Busby
Armadale
West Australia
..............

"So once you do know what the question actually is,
 you'll know what the answer means."
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  Chapter 28 of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
- Douglas Adams, 1988
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