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Re: XQuery types was Re: Yet another plea for XUpdat

• To: Jonathan Robie <jonathan.robie@d...>
• Subject: Re: XQuery types was Re: Yet another plea for XUpdate...
• From: Uche Ogbuji <uche.ogbuji@f...>
• Date: Tue, 07 May 2002 17:23:54 -0600
• Cc: Bill de hÓra <dehora@e...>, xml-dev@l...
• In-reply-to: Message from Jonathan Robie <jonathan.robie@d...> of "Tue, 07 May 2002 11:28:38 PDT." <5.1.0.14.0.20020507112656.04df0cc0@n...>
• Sender: uche.ogbuji@f...

Jonathan Robie:

> It optimizes machine efficiency because the query doesn't have to look at 
> all that data to know that there's an error. It optimizes programmer time 
> because the programmer does not need to go out and write a million test 
> cases, deal with the calls from the field from someone whose data looks 
> different from the test data, etc.

This is a myth.  If it were true, then developers of programs using strongly typed languages would tend to be significantly more productive than those using loosely typed language.  I think you'd find such an idea very hard to defend.

Errors due to mismatch of information contract *rarely* fall along the neat lines drawn by static typing enthusiasts.  The Ariane vessel (to trot out a cliche example) exploded not because an int was confused with a float, but because the scale of the values was confused.  This is the sort of thing generic constraint checking handles very well.


-- 
Uche Ogbuji                                    Fourthought, Inc.
http://uche.ogbuji.net    http://4Suite.org    http://fourthought.com
Track chair, XML/Web Services One (San Jose, Boston): http://www.xmlconference.com/
DAML Reference - http://www.xml.com/pub/a/2002/05/01/damlref.html
RDF Query using Versa - http://www-106.ibm.com/developerworks/xml/library/x-think10/index.html
XML, The Model Driven Architecture, and RDF @ XML Europe - http://www.xmleurope.com/2002/kttrack.asp#themodel

• References:
  • RE: XQuery types was Re: Yet another plea for XUpdate...
    • From: Jonathan Robie <jonathan.robie@d...>

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