A thread called "ID field as logical address" has just started. I have
an unpleasant feeling that it is going to lead to a lot of squabbling
over how doing a silly thing is silly, and little else. I don't want to
get involved in it. However I do want to share a couple of examples
which illustrate why I instinctively prefer to avoid synthetic IDs
whenever it is advantageous to do so.

Imagine you are a cook working for an agency and you get sent to
diffferent kitchens every day. On the first day you are presented with
this recipe:

Take 1 cup of whatever you find on the top shelf in the third cannister
from the right, and add 1 cup of whatever is in the first bottle on the
bottom shelf in the fridge, and mix in a pinch of the stuff in the bag
on the floor to the left of the fire exit.

The next day, you are told:

Take 1 cup of whatever you find in the container labelled 23, and add 1
cup of whatever is in the container labelled 1, and mix in a pinch of
the stuff from the container labelled 1057.

And on the third day you are told:

Take 1 cup of white flour, and add 1 cup of water, and mix in a pinch
of yeast.

Which of these has the least scope for going wrong before you even start
cooking? Which of these allows you to understand what you
are doing? Which of these allows the kitchen to be reorganized, or
completely demolished and rebuilt elsewhere without any changes? Which
of these is universally comprehensible?

--
Roy

"Roy Hann" <specially (AT) processed (DOT) almost.meat> wrote

What is white flour? What is yeast? I think I know what water is. It's
that stuff that comes in the Delrina bottles.

It's possible that my post is the start of a silly thread. I'll try to keep
that from happening. In the meantime, what qre you going to do to keep this
analogy from becoming the start of a silly thread?

Walter Mitty wrote:

I said you have to imagine you are a cook (a domain expert for whom
these symbols have meaning).

I didn't say your thread was silly; I said I was afraid it would lead to
a lot of squabbling about doing silly things.

Good luck with that. :-)

Nothing; it started silly, hence the subject heading.

--
Roy

"Roy Hann" <specially (AT) processed (DOT) almost.meat> wrote



I skipped over the line that said to imagine that I'm a cook. That was
silly of me.

Walter Mitty wrote:

That's OK; it's a silly thread. :-)

--
Roy