RE: Am I too hard on the developper ?

>From a developer:

1. Although it may not always matter at the database level, the order of the columns within a table often follow a logical sequence. ALTER TABLE does not give you control over where in the column list that column will be added. Example: If you want to add a MIDDLE_NAME column, you would logically want it to be listed near the FIRST_NAME and LAST_NAME columns ... not at the end of the table. Think of it as de-fragmenting the table description ... it just makes things easier in the long run if similar columns appear in logical groupings.
2. If the developers want to drop and re-create the tables in a development environment, let them. But also make them responsible for the grants. They can download a tool like TOAD for free (www.toadsoft.com). It will generate complete drop and recreate scripts for a table (or a complete schema), and include the grants, triggers, indexes, synonyms, storage criteria, etc. Generate the script for the table(s) they want to change, edit the script to add the new columns in their proper place, and execute it. Table dropped, re-constructed, and grants re-granted. No DBA involvement needed.
3. In the future, keep in mind that DBAs and Developers should work as a team, not as opponents. You need each other. I see too many posts here from DBAs who seem to look down on developers. There are good and bad developers, but guess what ... there are also good and bad DBAs. We've had both here.

Dave

> -----Original Message-----
> From: dgoulet_at_vicr.com [mailto:dgoulet_at_vicr.com]
> Sent: Friday, February 16, 2001 11:02 AM
> To: Multiple recipients of list ORACLE-L
> Subject: Re:Am I too hard on the developper ?
>
>
> Stephane,
>
> It's Friday, thank God & Rachel.
>
> Anyway, should one use the "alter table" or drop &
> rebuild method? Good
> question. Certainly "alter table" is easier, but then there
> is the possibility
> of fragmentation and chained blocks, but in development who
> really cares? Also,
> how many column(s) are they adding, what data types are they
> & how large are
> they? Most of the time I see developers wanting to do the
> drop/rebuild method
> so that the order of the fields when doing a describe matches
> the applications
> use of the columns. Big deal. I remember some time ago
> doing a PeopleSoft
> patch where they wanted to rebuild a many many rows table
> just to add a single
> character flag field. Again big deal, I just ran an alter
> table instead. Saved
> a ton of time and the application did not care one bit.
> Still running as we
> speak.
>
> In your case though, I'd push the PAIN back on the
> developers. If they want
> to rebuild the table they can redo the grants as well.
> Suprising how often
> they'll prefer the alter vs. rebuild.
>
> Dick Goulet
>
> ____________________Reply Separator____________________
> Author: =?iso-8859-1?q?paquette=20stephane?=
> <stephane_paquette_at_yahoo.com>
> Date: 2/16/2001 8:05 AM
>
> Hi,
>
> I do not know if it's friday afternoon or what ?
> The developpers want me to regenerate the grants in
> the development environment because they're running a
> script that drops and recreates a new version of the
> tables.
> I asked them : Could you do an alter table instead ?
>
> The developpers : What ! they'are at least 10 new
> fields !
>
> I used to be a developper, I do not remember myself
> dropping and recreating everything each time I add a
> new field . Anyway in production, only the new stuff
> goes in.
>
> Any comments ?
>
> =====
> Stephane Paquette
> DBA Oracle
> stephane_paquette_at_yahoo.com
>
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