Contrast v. dichotomous thinking

One of the best ways to increase understanding of a topic is to contrast ideas and approaches to a topic. To draw a contrast, one gives a name to the two approaches. This way, they can discuss the likely result of the two approaches.

When drawing a contrast, one wants to highlight differences between the items in focus so that we can better understand the difference between the two approaches.

An analogy can be found in photography. Photographers often shine lights on objects to make the object stand out. Photographers shine strong lights when they want stark contrast and diffused lights when they want soft contrast.

The fact that a photographer is shining a light on an object to take its picture does not mean that the object is the only object in the universe.

There is an unlimited number of ideas in the world meaning that there is an unlimited number of constrasts that we can draw. Even worse, there is an unlimited number of filters that we can shine on objects when we draw our contrasts.

When we are trying to draw a contrast, there is a natural tendency to present the contrast as fundamental. Again, lets imagine a wildlife photographer taking a picture of a bird in a park. Teh photographer will position the camera to ignore the telephone poles and playground equipment in the park to take a picture of the bird.

The fact that the photographer focused on the bird does not mean the playground equipment doesn't exist.

There is a great deal that we can learn by contrasting ideas. It is a mistake to treat the contrasts we draw as fundamental dichotomy.

So, I started to write a blog post about two different approaches to programming. I've hesitated to publish the post because some Nimrod out that would probably take my constrast as a fundamental dichotomy, when I am simply trying to contrast the result of different approaches to programming.

In general, I find that the process of contrasting ideas to be enlightening as the contrast helps us understand the different results from different ideas. When drawing contrasts it is helpful to shine a sharp light on the contrast. Unfortunately, when people take the sharp contrast we draw as a dichotomy, the contrast itself often become a negative, for the dichotomy causes us to lose sight of other ideas.

In my article I sought to contrast two approaches to programming: In the first approach, the programmer considers the format of the program to be of primary concern.

In the second approach, the programmer considers the data produced by the program to be of primary importance and the format of the program to be secondary.

One would suspect that concentrating on the form of the program would produce the best program.

My personal experience is that I create better programs when I concentrate on the data produced by the program than on the form of the program.

The reason for this is that the data becomes an objective measure for the quality of the form of the program.

The idea that I wish to state is that a data-centric approach to programming often produces a better result than approaches that focus primarily on the form of the program.

The reason that I want to draw this contrast is that I believe that many object oriented programmers have become too focused on the form of their programs. The end result of this obsession about form is software bloat.

NOTE: I recently bought a new laptop computer to replace my ten year old laptop computer. Although the new computer has substantially more resources and runs faster, the new software has become so bloated that the new computer is slower than the old one.

Anyway, I wish to write a series of articles that state that a good way to address the bloat of software is for programmers to concentrate more on the data produced by the software and a bit less on the form of the software.

The challenge in writing these articles is that I do not wish people to take my discussion of contrast to imply that there is some sort of fundamental dichotomy between the data centered and object oriented programming.

Major Web Site Rebuild

The PHP Group, which defines the PHP programming language, deprecated the mysql() function and replaced the function with the PDO object. The group has announced plans to completely remove the function in the upcoming release of PHP 7.

The mysql() function was open to SQL injection attacks. The function simply sends mysql commands from web server to the database server. Clever hackers learned that they could send code to web sites that could to break out of improperly formed SQL strings and take control of the server.

The PDO object has some additional features to fight such attacks. But if programmers fail to use the new features correctly, their scripts will still be subject to attack.

This change will force me to undergo a major rewrite of all of the programs I've written using PHP.

I've been anticipating this change for a few years. I've thrown hundreds of hours into experimenting with the new PDO object, and have yet to find a way to use the object elegantly.

I happen to be a fan of object design and I usually favor replacing functions with objects; so, I was surprised at my displeasure with the PDO object.

The problem I faced was not with the clunky object syntax in PHP. The problems I faced had to do with the scope of the objects. The mysql_query() function is a language construct and has a global scope. The PDO object only has local scope in the function that created it.

To use the PDO object one needs to either open multiple connections to the database to generate a web page. (which slows down web sites) or include in the code contortions to access the object as needed.

Whenever I have a problem with programming, my natural instinct is to assume that there is something wrong with me. I convinced myself that if I just kept reading programming manuals and online tutorials I would at some point light on an elegant way to employ the new PDO object.

Having read thousands of posts on Slashdot.org (a popular coding site), it finally dawned on me. Perhaps the problem is not with me, but with the direction that the PHP Group is taking their product.

It appears that the group is trying to go after the enterprise development market by turning their back on their primary market which is webmasters who want to add server side features to a web site.

Now, I need to rewrite my PHP web sites in preparation for PHP 7.0. As I engage in this project, I will open source portions of the code and write articles defending the approach I am taking toward web development. The goal of the project is to create a web site designed to aid in general research ahd authorship.