Re: A thought about other open source projects

bnichols(at)ca(dot)afilias(dot)info (Brad Nicholson) writes:
> Scott Marlowe wrote:
>>> As with phrases like, "the quickest way to grill a unicorn steak,"
>>> that it can be stated in a few words does not make in possible.
>>
>> Exactly. The big issue here is that nobody's saying what kind of app
>> they want to write.
>>
> Or what sort of performance requirements are tied to that app.

And that's only one form of "quality of service," too.

- Sometimes you need fast...

- Mighty frequently, "fast enough" is good enough.

- Sometimes you need excruciating correctness (to the point of needing
2PC!).

- Sometimes you need to not need to respond to all errors. (e.g. - in
an embedded application, there may never be a way for an
"administrator" to get at instances of the system - consider an
appliance like a router)

- Very frequently, making sure the system "isn't too fragile" is an
important aspect of QoS. [1]

- I've really liked the recent comments about the philosophy behind
NoSQL, where it is suggested to be "postmodern" in the sense that:

- SQL traditionally has been about storing facts of some solidity,
and, in contrast...

- The postmodernist approach to philosophy, and, to a great extent,
NoSQL systems involves an acceptance of:
- The absence of objective truth
- Queries return opinions, not facts

In effect, this involves a more-or-less philosophical shift that is,
all the same, an expression of "quality of service."

- The vigorously expressed unfriendliness of the MythTV folk is somewhat
curious, and I'm not quite sure how to classify it. I don't think it's
any of the above.

[1] <http://www.databasejournal.com/features/db2/article.php/3888026>

[2] <http://www.xaprb.com/blog/2010/06/12/postmodern-databases/>
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