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From: alexis@panix.UUCP (Alexis Rosen)
Newsgroups: comp.databases
Subject: Re: dBASE IV Problems
Message-ID: <136@panix.UUCP>
Date: 5 Sep 89 08:29:32 GMT
References: <205@cerc.wvu.wvnet.edu.edu> <3520009@hpindda.HP.COM> <135@cica.cica.indiana.edu> <1989Aug31.153729.20204@agate.uucp>
Reply-To: uunet!cmcl2!panix!alexis
Organization: Panix Public Access, NYC
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In article <1989Aug31.153729.20204@agate.uucp> steve@violet.berkeley.edu (Steve
Goldfield) writes:
> [somebody else describes numerous horrible problems in dBase iv, relating
>  to indices...]
>I've seen similar behavior in all versions of dBASE, including
>McMax, I've used. Generally, these problems are caused by
>abnormal exits from the program through hard or soft crashes.
>In most cases, packing and reindexing clears them up. Packing
>is necessary before reindexing because such crashes often
>create non-Ascii characters in the database which interfere
>with its operation. You may also have to delete or clean up
>such records. I haven't used dBASE IV, but I doubt that it
>is immune to the same kind of problem.   [...]
>Steve Goldfield

I've seen problems like these in databases too numerous to mention, on a
variety of platforms. The most recent such pleasures were with Rbase on a
PC and Omnis on a Mac. I haven't worked much with larger systems in recent
years so I can't comment about them, although I'm sure that those systems
which don't have true transaction support are vulnerable to some extent.

On the other hand, I've *NEVER EVER* seen FoxBase (either Mac or PC) trash
its indices. I'm sure it's possible, and I know how to do it- turn off the
disk while it's writing. But if that happens, you've got serious troubles
anyway, the least of which is that you need to rebuild an index or two.
Unlike other programs, too, Fox is so stable I can't imagine it ever
crapping out on its own while writing, so it would take a machine or power
failure to bring about such a problem. In fact it's so stable, I can't
remember the last time I saw it crash, period. (That's on a Mac, which I use
much more than the PC these days, and not including various Beta versions
they send me- most of which are perfectly stable as well...)

Of course, if (and only if) you are using Fox in single-user mode, and you
do lots of database alterations, and then go on to do other stuff without
FLUSHing and without waiting for user input, you are asking for trouble, and
if the machine crashes, you would likely have to reindex. But I've never seen
this either, because FOX DOESN'T CRASH.

The point of all this is, a lot of people seem to have been trained to expect
shoddy, second-rate software, when they don't need to. I can't imagine using
dBase for anything- how can you trust it???

It's a case of DIGO- Data In, Garbase Out. Sort of reverse AI :-).

Anyway, now I can get off my soapbox and let people get back to discussing the
merits of OODBMSs (which discusion I've been following with some interest).

---
Alexis Rosen
Owner/Operator, PANIX Public Access Unix
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