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Json-Base – Database built as JSON files

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Re: Json-Base – Database built as JSON files

#61

Post by russnewcomer »

marci wrote: post #55
russnewcomer wrote: post #33

I did something vaguely similar to this recently, and I still maintain it was a good choice. I volunteered to write a medical visit recording app for an NGO in a developing country (a friend works with the NGO and asked me if I would help), and they have almost no budget, no guarantees of internet connectivity when their folks are in the field, and the likelihood that they may be using this software for years. So I w…

> use-basically-I-wanted-to-have-independent-JSON-instead-of-SQLite-so-in-the-future-maybe-have-a-web-function-to-sync solution sounds like you should use CouchDB, it a database/webserver, so you could make a simple html form on localhost[0], CouchDB is built with replication/sync (over HTTP) as one of it's main feature[1], and on the field, an offline-first webapp with PouchDB[2] and Service Workers[3] could have th…

Nope, that's too much complexity.

Because then someone has to run and manage a webserver, and there is no guarantee that ServiceWorkers will work like they do in 5 years or on an ancient Windows7 laptop running IE7.

I want this to be able to run for years without my intervention. :)

Re: Json-Base – Database built as JSON files

#63

Post by tegiddrone »

musingsole wrote: post #53
bvinc wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I tried. I held a meeting to talk about the code. I found the problems hard to predict and hard to describe. It was decided that after the meeting he would work more on making his code less hacky and more production ready. But the real answer is that our team was very siloed. No one knew what anyone else was doing. The other problem was that he was actually solving real world problems, and he was a very high performe…

I can sympathize but it seems hard to argue with this developer's approach then. If it met the needs of the company, particularly to the desired level at the times these features were requested, I don't think there's a valid critique of the developer's architecture beyond iT's NoT DoNe CoRrEcTlY. And still, there's a lot to be said for keeping your developer's entertained so they stick around.

On the other hand, other sorts of devs would probably not be entertained having to maintain a in-house database some unchained dev decided to introduce into the stack one day for "reasons." That tech debt will compound until it becomes more of a liability.. hopefully the product brings in enough money so that the in-house database can continue to be supported or removed.

This sort of stuff is what deters me from being a developer sometimes. Fuck the salary, get me out of here.

Re: Json-Base – Database built as JSON files

#64

Post by bvinc »

musingsole wrote: post #53
bvinc wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I tried. I held a meeting to talk about the code. I found the problems hard to predict and hard to describe. It was decided that after the meeting he would work more on making his code less hacky and more production ready. But the real answer is that our team was very siloed. No one knew what anyone else was doing. The other problem was that he was actually solving real world problems, and he was a very high performe…

I can sympathize but it seems hard to argue with this developer's approach then. If it met the needs of the company, particularly to the desired level at the times these features were requested, I don't think there's a valid critique of the developer's architecture beyond iT's NoT DoNe CoRrEcTlY. And still, there's a lot to be said for keeping your developer's entertained so they stick around.

I can certainly say that that's exactly the way I felt complaining about it. I felt like I was an asshole attacking him, and I don't think he liked me very much because of it. The whole thing was very uncomfortable. I didn't throw a fit. I tried to be very understanding and make suggestions.

If it's any consolation, it fell on to me to maintain this code after he moved on to something else, which is why I know so much about how it works.

Re: Json-Base – Database built as JSON files

#65

Post by teej »

tobr wrote: post #24

So much pessimism! Not sure if the author is here, but it would be interesting to hear what makes this different from, say, Lowdb. Also, the writing in the README feels sloppy, which doesn’t inspire confidence. For example, you might want to decide if it’s called jsonbase, JSON-base, JSONBASe, Json-Base, JSON-Base, json-base or jsonDB.

If the author doesn’t provide any explanation of why this exists or what motivated them to create it, what am I supposed to assume?

They’ve called it a database. They have said explicitly “ You can use this as a backend for your ReST APIs.” But it doesn’t meet the table stakes for a database and encouraging folks to use it in a production environment is actively harmful.

I wish more folks were up front with the trade offs they make. I respect an OSS author a lot more when they are honest and upfront with what a thing is good at and where trade offs have been made.

When I don’t see that, I assume that either the author doesn’t know/care (red flag) or they can’t be bothered (annoying).

Re: Json-Base – Database built as JSON files

#66

Post by xienze »

boynamedsue wrote: post #52
bvinc wrote: post #16

Someone at my old company basically did this and put it into production. The first problem he encountered was that multiple connections couldn't both be using the database at a time without clobbering each other. "No problem," he thought, this is a good use case for micro services. A service sitting on top would ensure that there was only one operation being performed at a time. Next, his problem was that the databas…

It's easy to get a little laugh from this, but congrats to the guy for exploring. Now he knows first-hand the inordinate challenge and can describe it in detail, but more importantly avoid these hard-learned patterns later.

> but more importantly avoid these hard-learned patterns later.

Depends, I’ve known people who have gone through similar experiences and still poo-poo all those “unnecessarily bloated” solutions like a proper database.

Re: Json-Base – Database built as JSON files

#68

Post by treeman79 »

bvinc wrote: post #16

Someone at my old company basically did this and put it into production. The first problem he encountered was that multiple connections couldn't both be using the database at a time without clobbering each other. "No problem," he thought, this is a good use case for micro services. A service sitting on top would ensure that there was only one operation being performed at a time. Next, his problem was that the databas…

Many many years ago In college, SQL sounded hard.

So I built my own database in PHP.

Enough said

Re: Json-Base – Database built as JSON files

#70

Post by airstrike »

bvinc wrote: post #64
musingsole wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can sympathize but it seems hard to argue with this developer's approach then. If it met the needs of the company, particularly to the desired level at the times these features were requested, I don't think there's a valid critique of the developer's architecture beyond iT's NoT DoNe CoRrEcTlY. And still, there's a lot to be said for keeping your developer's entertained so they stick around.

I can certainly say that that's exactly the way I felt complaining about it. I felt like I was an asshole attacking him, and I don't think he liked me very much because of it. The whole thing was very uncomfortable. I didn't throw a fit. I tried to be very understanding and make suggestions. If it's any consolation, it fell on to me to maintain this code after he moved on to something else, which is why I know so muc…

> If it's any consolation, it fell on to me to maintain this code

That's not any consolation... If anything, it's all the more reason for you to be pissed off. He should have dropped the project, rolled out a future-proof tool and taught to do differently next time.

Anything short of that is just enabling the dude's delusion of grandeur and therefore a mistake on everyone else's part...

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