Feature creep
Alan Popiel
->Subject: Re: Sorting Integer
->Date: 19 Feb 93 02:22:43 GMT
->Reply-To: al...@informix.com (Colonel Panic)
->Organization: Enterprise Technologies, Informix Software, Inc.
->
->In article <1m0d5d...@emory.mathcs.emory.edu> al...@effluvia.den.mmc.com (Alan Popiel) writes:
->>
->>What version of Informix ISQL/ACE/engine/etc. are you running? I looked for
->>the TRUNC function in my 4.00 (and 4.10 supplement) manuals and did not see
->>it. Is it an ACE feature? I know you use ACE a lot, while I don't use it
->>at all. I see that Alan Denney tells us that MOD became available in v5.00
->>of the engine.
->
->trunc() and round() are available in 4.1 or higher engines and are documented
->in the Informix Guide to SQL: Reference version 4.1, pp. 6-265 - 6-266.
->
->mod() doesn't seem to be documented in 5.0 but should be in 6.0.
->
->>I work on several platforms, running everything from 2.10.03F ISQL and
->>1.10.03F 4GL (both fossils), to 4.00 and 4.10 4GL running against 5.XX
->>engines. Feature creep is a real problem for me. I really like the BEFORE
->>MENU, HIDE OPTION, and SHOW OPTION available in 4.10 4GL, but when I tried
->>to port an application containing them to a system still running 4.00, it
->>died big time.
->
->These features are documented only in the 4.1 Supplement in the
->"4.1 Enhanced Statements" section. Was it unclear that these features
->were 4.1-specific?
->
->--
->Alan Denney al...@informix.com {pyramid|uunet}!infmx!aland
-> Disclaimer: Poster under influence of 1,3,7-trimethylxanthine
->
->"Fall not in love; it will stick to your face." -- Deteriorata
Hello, Colonel Panic! General Confusion here.
No, my problem was not with the documentation of the MENU features. I found
them in the 4.10 4GL Supplement. I just forgot when the features arrived,
since I work on different Informix release levels on different machines.
My problem is really two-fold:
1. Feature creep in general: Maybe I don't understand the Informix release
numbering scheme. It seems to me that the MENU option changes were a pretty
major change, and thus I would expect them to first appear in some X.0, not
X.1, release. Now I find out that a moderately large group of functions
were also added at the 4.1 level.
I would expect only minor changes in X.1, X.2, type releases; and I'd expect
bug-fixes in X.1.1 or X.1.1ud3 type releases. But as I said, maybe I just
don't understand the numbering scheme.
I call it "feature creep" because new capabilities creep in at peculiar
release levels, instead of in some more understandable manner as described
in the prior paragraph.
2. Document set: I have I4GL Reference Manuals (2 vols.), I4GL User Guide,
ISQL Reference Manual, and ISQL User Guide. I do NOT have "Guide to SQL:
Reference". Why does Informix have this third type of manual? I understand
the different purposes served by the User Guide and Reference Manual. But
why have this hybrid (at least in name) "Guide to ... Reference"?????
+------------------------------+---------------------------------------+
| R. Alan Popiel | Internet: al...@den.mmc.com |
| Martin Marietta, LSC | ( Please note: My opinions do not ) |
| P.O. Box 179, M/S 5422 | ( represent official Martin policy. ) |
| Denver, Colorado 80201-0179 | Voice: 303-977-9998 |
+------------------------------+---------------------------------------+
Colonel Panic
>->>I work on several platforms, running everything from 2.10.03F ISQL and
>->>1.10.03F 4GL (both fossils), to 4.00 and 4.10 4GL running against 5.XX
>->>engines. Feature creep is a real problem for me. I really like the BEFORE
>->>MENU, HIDE OPTION, and SHOW OPTION available in 4.10 4GL, but when I tried
>->>to port an application containing them to a system still running 4.00, it
>->>died big time.
>->
>->These features are documented only in the 4.1 Supplement in the
>->"4.1 Enhanced Statements" section. Was it unclear that these features
>->were 4.1-specific?
I missed this first time around...
>
>No, my problem was not with the documentation of the MENU features. I found
>them in the 4.10 4GL Supplement. I just forgot when the features arrived,
>since I work on different Informix release levels on different machines.
>
>My problem is really two-fold:
>
>1. Feature creep in general: Maybe I don't understand the Informix release
>numbering scheme. It seems to me that the MENU option changes were a pretty
>major change, and thus I would expect them to first appear in some X.0, not
>X.1, release. Now I find out that a moderately large group of functions
>were also added at the 4.1 level.
The primary meaning, traditionally, of a major upgrade was to indicate
compatibility/support issues: for example, all 4.X front-ends are supported
against all 5.X servers. Also, major feature changes usually warrant a new
major rev number.
>I would expect only minor changes in X.1, X.2, type releases; and I'd expect
>bug-fixes in X.1.1 or X.1.1ud3 type releases. But as I said, maybe I just
>don't understand the numbering scheme.
Generally, that's true. You could say that 4.1 tools had enough differences
that they could have been called 5.0, but that would imply that 4.1 servers
couldn't be used with them, which isn't the case.
>I call it "feature creep" because new capabilities creep in at peculiar
>release levels, instead of in some more understandable manner as described
>in the prior paragraph.
Well, maybe we could take them out, if that will make you feel better... \-8
>2. Document set: I have I4GL Reference Manuals (2 vols.), I4GL User Guide,
>ISQL Reference Manual, and ISQL User Guide. I do NOT have "Guide to SQL:
>Reference". Why does Informix have this third type of manual? I understand
Because our Tech Pubs people are underworked and bored. [-: [-: [-:
>the different purposes served by the User Guide and Reference Manual. But
>why have this hybrid (at least in name) "Guide to ... Reference"?????
But seriously, the Informix Guides to SQL (Tutorial and Reference) were
designed to separate SQL issues global to most/all products into a distinct
book set to reduce duplication within books. This was introduced with 4.1.
Sicne the tools product manuals were not rewritten for 4.1, though, you
have duplicated content between the tools mannuals and SQLR/SQLT.
With the 5.0 servers/embeddeds release, the SQLR and SQLT were revised and
republished to reflect the changes (these say "December 1991" on the spine).
--
Alan Denney al...@informix.com {pyramid|uunet}!infmx!aland
Disclaimer: Poster under influence of 1,3,7-trimethylxanthine
Qvfpynvzre: Zl ubirepensg vf shyy bs rryf.
Life's too short for regrets... but not too short for REVENGE!