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[Steven Champeon <schampeo AT hesketh.com>]

on Wed, Oct 15, 2003 at 04:45:25PM -0400, Michael D. Thomas wrote:
[quoting me, without attribution]:
> > The real leap forward for a lot of folks is learning how to build the
> db
> > and then build PHP/Perl objects that you can populate with queries or
> > use as basis for inserts/updates. A lot of the PHP code I've seen (and
> > some of the early stuff I wrote, for that matter) would benefit from a
> > sane approach to db design /first/ and then a sane approach to object
> > design second. But that often takes either having to go back and
> maintain
> > the awful code you wrote as a novice, or maintaining/extending someone
> > else's awful code before they realize the power of using objects, or
> the
> > pain that can be caused by poor table/query design.
> 
> A classic cost of change curve problem... 

<snip>

Actually, the reference above was to the fact that most programmers
don't learn the benefits of good design until they have to maintain
a poor one. That wises them up pretty quickly; it did me, anyway. Not
that any of your points about cost of change aren't valid, just wanted
to make sure the point got across that I was referring to the ways in
which programmers learn not to be bad programmers.

> 'Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when
> there is nothing left to take away." -- Antoine de Saint-Exupery
> 
> "Less code, less bugs." -- Anonymous

Great quotes. 
 
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