Re: looks like some web developers are getting back into 4GL environment...

No, I'm not jumping to conclusions. A couple of decades of experience as everything from computer operator to program manager entitle me to an informed opinion. I've worked as a systems programmer, applications programmer, QA & CM manager, applications group manager, etc. If there's a job title in the IT industry from "pushed the janitor's broom" to "shucked and jived the customer out of his very last penny" then I've probably held it.

When I worked as a developer I was very application-centric. The database is just a datastore to hold the application's results until they are reported.

But when I work as a DBA I'm very data-centric. The application is just glorified SQL to input and extract data. If the end users were a little more knowledgable you wouldn't even need the application but as it is you have to hold their hand so give them some pretty screens to look at and try to edit out their most egregious mistakes.

Now, what's the RIGHT way to look at the IT world? That's a business decision, not a technical decision. There is no one-right-way. Depending on your business needs and resources you emphasize one view or the other. Forget marketing slogans and feel-good pats on the back. The business will emphasize one view or the other.

Usually, if the business is small it will pride itself on being agile and offering customized solutions, so it will be application-centric. New products, new solutions, "Yesterday is the Past, Tomorrow is Our Future", etc. And that should work for them.

And if the business is large it will have a huge repository of historical data; much data but little information. If it organizes that data wisely and systematically it will make extrinsic that which was intrinsic and may find new areas for profit and expansion. But if they destroy the intrinsic connections in the data for the sake of ease-of-use for one particular focus then they have deprived themselves of something that could be valuable (trading a birthright for a bowl of porridge). So they are data-centric, or should be, regarding the data as an asset and not an impediement. And that can work for them.

My problem with RoR is not that it is extremely application-centric. That's what it's supposed to be and if it's used correctly I believe that it would be wonderful to work with. My problem is that incompetent technologists (come on, you know who you are) will want to use this as a one-size fits all solution.

As soon as you try to share a RoR-based database with some other application or try to graft an RoR-based application onto an existing database it will be very ugly.

But let's not argue. Time will tell. I expect that RoR will be very popular until the incompetents find out that it's not the magic bullet. Then they'll move on to something else.

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