Re: [xml-dev] Argument: Software design is important, data design is not

["Timothy W. Cook" <tim@mlhim.org>]

Kurt is correct about the 'bits of sand'.  I presume Roger does it
intentionally and is therefore VERY good at provoking interesting
discussions.

But without the knowledge and broad experience that the members here
bring, it wouldn't happen either.

Thanks to everyone for creating a place where arguments can be made
and disassembled without animosity (most of the time).  That doesn't
happen in too many places on the Internet.

Cheers,
Tim


On Tue, Nov 12, 2013 at 3:35 PM, Kurt Cagle <kurt.cagle@gmail.com> wrote:
> Roger,
>
> Your posts are a lot like bits of sand in an oyster - as an irritant they
> stimulate some wonderful conversations and generally produce some real
> pearls in the end.
>
> I'd take the opposite side of the argument - data design is everything, and
> software is simply the means of expressing that data in certain ways. If you
> have a good underlying concept about how your data is designed, you can
> build any number of software applications on top of that data, but poor data
> design will kill even the best software.
>
> Kurt
>
> Kurt Cagle
> Invited Expert, XForms Working Group, W3C
> Managing Editor, XMLToday.org
> kurt.cagle@gmail.com
> 443-837-8725
>
>
>
> On Tue, Nov 12, 2013 at 6:32 AM, Costello, Roger L. <costello@mitre.org>
> wrote:
>>
>> Hi Folks,
>>
>> An argument:
>> ---------------------------------------------
>> In the final analysis what matters is giving consumers the information
>> they need in a form that is useful to them and performing the actions they
>> request. And it is software which does that. So it doesn't matter whether
>> you use a data format that is simple and lightweight, or complex and
>> heavyweight. In fact, the design of data to be exchanged matters very
>> little, as long as all the data that is needed exists. At the consuming end
>> software can extract the data and store it in memory in a form suitable for
>> efficient processing. Software is king! Data design is only needed to the
>> extent that you document and define what it contains; other than that, do
>> whatever you want. Software design is important, data design is not.
>>
>> What is data design anyway? A typical response is: a good data design is
>> one that enables software to do its job better/easier. Again we see that
>> data is just in a supporting role to software; data is not the lead
>> character (to use an acting metaphor). If the data is to be consumed by
>> diverse software packages, a single data design cannot make all the software
>> packages do their job better/easier, so why bother doing any design? Arguing
>> that one data design is better than another is a waste of time and, in fact,
>> it's meaningless. Spend minimal time on data design and create great
>> software designs.
>> ---------------------------------------------
>>
>> What's wrong with that argument?
>>
>> /Roger
>>
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