Kenneth Downs wrote: > I'm at pains to ask at this point if we should question some of the > basic assumptions of the MVC model. > > Underneath MVC is usually an ORM philosophy, whether it is stated > or implied. The ORM philosophy tries to cast tables into OO terms, > and IMHO this is why the approach tends to produce at least as much > work as it eliminates.
To be honest, I've really just fallen into an MVC approach as I've learned, so I can't really compare it to anything other than the chaotic php/sql/html I used to write when I got started. I suppose I agree that ORM and MVC may not save time in the short-term, but I've found it can have a huge impact on the maintainability of my code. It does not mean I write less code -- it just gives me structured buckets to put it in. I also find the code becomes very expressive with MVC and ORM. I can glance at it 6 months later and know exactly what I was trying to do. > In fact, the data tables are fully encapsulated by the database > server and do not need to be encapsulated further into classes. > Doing so introduces obfuscations which then must be un-obfuscated, > so author ends up doing work to do accomplish an unnecessary goal, > which then requires further work to undo. This is interesting. I've thought about this before, but haven't heard anyone else express it. But a table is just data, no? I've found it useful to wrap tables in classes so that I can attach business logic to them. > By contrast, a generalized query-by-form is far easier to write by > approaching it as a simple function that need only know a table > name, and the column types and widths. It does the same thing for > every table otherwise. You can put it into a class if you like, > but it works just as well as a library routine. I can't quite visualize it. I'm looking forward to seeing some examples at your presentation this evening. I'm always look for a better way... -- Dell _______________________________________________ New York PHP Community Talk Mailing List http://lists.nyphp.org/mailman/listinfo/talk NYPHPCon 2006 Presentations Online http://www.nyphpcon.com Show Your Participation in New York PHP http://www.nyphp.org/show_participation.php
