Ditto to all..  and     especially the terrible relationship part..  also,,
lets see..   the use of text fields that should be memo fields...   memo
fields that should be text fields..     Employee rosters that use a single
text field that stores first middle last names all together instead of
splitting them up..  and they wonder why there queries are slow..    ahh.
Text fields that should be number or date fields...   absolutely no (green)
remarks listed for the previous programmers code...   they want it done by
today..   ahhh..    annoying questions that distract you, such as "Will I
still be able to get my email",  ah dude, this code has nothing to do with
your mail server..   contact the mail guy...     ahhh.

-----Original Message-----
From: Jeff Mason [mailto:je.mason@a...]
Sent: Thursday, November 21, 2002 1:14 PM
To: sql language
Subject: [sql_language] RE: Problems left by newbie programmers

There are two problems I see most often:

1.  Bad database design - little to no normalization, bad key and index
choices, improper datatype usage, and a poor to nonexistent modeling of the
entities the database is trying to represent.

2.  Bad to hideous queries and stored procedures.  Overuse of cursors caused
by the programmer being stuck in a procedural mindset.  Overuse of dynamic
SQL most often a side effect of problem 1 above.

There are others, but these are the worst, IMO.

--
Jeff Mason              Custom Apps, Inc.
Jeff@c...


-----Original Message-----
From: Karlynn Carrington [mailto:nerddancer@y...]
Sent: Thursday, November 21, 2002 2:59 PM
To: sql language
Subject: [sql_language] Problems left by newbie programmers


A co-worker and I [both non-programmers] have begun
using SQL Server to generate the back-end data for
Excel-based reports to our managers. Although we have
learned enough to do our jobs [running very basic
queries and transferring data using DTS] we are
embarking on a self-study program to deepen our
knowledge [using the Wrox Beginning and Professional
SQL Server books].

Our question: when you are called in to fix code for a
client, what types of problems do you most often find
left by less-skilled programmers? From a couple of
newbies - thanks so much!




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