As I prepared to start this blog, I was, of course, faced with the need to provide a title that would, hopefullly, indicate where this blog is headed. The title you see was my choice but I fear it may require a bit of an explanation.
I have always liked the term "curmudgeon" . . . although you don't hear it nearly as much any more. I actually took it as a compliment when I was once told that I was becoming a curmudgeon. (I'm not at all sure that it was intended as a compliment, though.) I have never thought of a curmudgeon as a particularly evil or nasty person but, rather, as someone who has been around long enough to have seen the foibles, misguided efforts, and mistakes that continue to be made and to have reached a state of resignation to the fact that a very small minority of people give serious thought to most things, a slightly larger minority give some thought to some things, and a vast majority of people give little if any thought to far too many things . . . and yet, the curmudgeon feels compelled to appeal to all people to give more thought to things.
For the record, though, I will provide a link to what, to my way of thinking, is a good definition for a curmudgeon: http://www.concentric.net/~marlowe/curdef.shtml.
Now, having engaged in a brief introduction to my intent, I shall get on with my curmudgeoning. ;-)
Since I am a DBA by profession and have been a developer as well, my focus is on the design, use, mis-use, and abuse of databases. Like any tool, databases are neither Good nor Evil, they "just are." It is how they are used that determines their ultimate Good-ness or Evil-ness . . . and, I believe, that many are both Good and Evil at the same time. Similarly, when accessing databases with SQL, SQL, in and of itself, is netiher Good nor Evil. However, as in life in general, it is very easy to intend to do Good but to ultimately wind up doing Evil . . . there is a lot of truth in the old saying, "The road to Hell is paved with Good intentions."
My intent is to ramble on about the various Good intentions that I have seen turn to Evil implementations as well as those that I have seen that came to Good, if not Excellent, fruition.
