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Posted: Sat Feb 03, 2007 12:22 pm
by Christopher
Ambush Commander wrote:The trouble with shuffling around the database schema too much is that it affects everything else that already is in the database. Not too bad if you're just adding a column, but removing and changing columns becomes quite unwieldy when dealing with large datasets.
Agreed, but the question becomes: where is the line for "shuffling ... too much" and when it "becomes quite unwieldy." I think writing a system for dealing with schema changes is certainly manageable -- and in the case that I believe Hockey wants, which is just adding data/search fields, it would be pretty easy.

PS - This is a great warning you who is infamous for tackling programming challenges that most wouldn't touch with a very long barge pole. ;) :D

Posted: Sat Feb 03, 2007 12:42 pm
by Ambush Commander
Ah, yes, in that light I agree with your sentiments. In that case, I would serialize some sort of representation of the current database schema and stuff it in a flat file for your caching needs. Any code that updates the schema would have to update the cache.