On 3/23/07, Whil Hentzen (Pro*) <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > There are two schools of thought here. The first is to be an expert in a > language, and when the call comes for help in that language, you hold up > your hand and yell, "Pick me! Pick me!"
I think it's not just "A" language, but a whole bunch of tools that work together: the database, the server OS, the glue that puts the whole thing together, the installer, the bug tracker, the version control system, etc. And knowing the range and scope of the tools: how big an application, how many workstations or connections, how much data, etc. And perhaps knowing a few other tools "up or down-scale" that might fit if your tool of choice is not the best fit (Anyone remember Alpha 5?) And the other subsidiary tools: ERD diagrammers, UML builders, Wikis, etc... > Having been burned multiple times, proprietary scares me. This week reminded me of the dog-and-pony I saw Ashton-Tate put on in Boston, circa 1988. dBase IV had just come out and they were doing a tour showing it off. I was at a government-only briefing, iirc, and the demo people (I think they were "names") couldn't keep the product running. "I've gotta bail out of this," I recall thinking. That's when I went with Fox. Could have done worse. And now it's time to pick again. So much cool stuff to pick from. Web-based or rich-client? AJAX or conventional? SOA? Client-server? (well, obviously). 2-tier or n-tier? Open Source or proprietary? ASP model or shink-wrapped, custom code or retail? There's a lot of choices, and each person has to find the business that works for them. As for the "career-crippling" comment, let's get real. It's the choice of a tool. Make the wrong choice, you drop it and pick up another. DeWalt, Milwaikee, Makita -- you "have a bad experience," you pick another one next time. If you don't strike out once in a while, you're not trying hard enough. -- Ted Roche Ted Roche & Associates, LLC http://www.tedroche.com _______________________________________________ Post Messages to: ProFox@leafe.com Subscription Maintenance: http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profox OT-free version of this list: http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profoxtech ** All postings, unless explicitly stated otherwise, are the opinions of the author, and do not constitute legal or medical advice. This statement is added to the messages for those lawyers who are too stupid to see the obvious.
