28 Sept 2008

Wikipedia - Decision Table Driven Development

I have been researching Business Rules, Decision Trees and Decision Tables and how they can be used in a relational database for some time. I decided to write a Wikipedia article about a new software development methodology I call "Decision Table Driven Development".
I believe its a good idea, but then again, I am biased.

I am new to wikipedia and recently learned that I need to move my writing style away from "my opinion" to "concrete research". I already got a notice that I have 4-5 days to improve the article or it will get deleted :(

Its still a work-in-progress, but if you would like to read it, comment on it or ask questions, I would be very happy to reply. If you have written articles in wikipedia in the past and have some suggestions on what I should change, please also give me your feedback.

Edit: The Article was moved to Google Knol -> dtdd

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7 comments:

  1. Marques Johansson28 September 2008 at 13:12

    They are completely right. You can't make something up and write a Wikipedia article about it.

    You might find the MySQL Forge Wiki to be a friendlier place to post. http://forge.mysql.com/wiki/Main_Page#Community

    ReplyDelete
  2. Sheeri K. Cabral28 September 2008 at 16:01

    I don't think the Forge would take too kindly to having opinions, not facts, posted either.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Jonathan Levin28 September 2008 at 16:08

    I don't think the criticism are well based.
    Decision Tables in relational databases have been researched since the 1980s. It might not be well known, but it's not new either.

    Plus, I have been working, researching and testing out options of using it for slightly less then a year.

    For more information, look up Table-Oriented Programming.

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  4. rpbouman28 September 2008 at 16:29

    Hi!

    Not to bash you or your ideas, but your article on the wikipedia does contain easy to spot unsubstantiated matter. Let me give you an example:

    "Decision Table Driven-Development is a software development method ..."

    You make it seem like this is some common, established practice. Now google for "Decision Table Driven-Development". We find your blog and wikipedia article as best hits, and later on the planetmysql copy. Apart from that we find lots of "test-driven development", "model-driven development", "demand-driven development".

    "This means that development time is shortened and reports from the database are generated faster."

    This is a "says who?" thing. It's ok to claim this, but then we want to hear how this was measured, and it'd also need to be experienced a number of times, else we can't trust your claims.

    Like in the blog articles you wrote, we as reader don't see any evidence this really works to solve practical problems. Maybe there are cases that you know - great! First write articles about that in places like the mysql devzone, do talks about it on app development or database conferences, or write a book about it. As long as nobody but you uses this and succeeds, it really is no more than just another way to solve some problem.

    Introduction of your article, I mean "Normal ways of improving performance...[...]...allow searches to be done inside of them."
    You really are all over the map. Yet after reading it, it is still not clear in what context this can be used, and it is still not clear if this is some performance tweak or has more profound bearing. What is clear though is that whatever this is does not resemble what people normally refer to when talking about a "software development method". I mean, "RAD", "XP", "CASE", "DSDM" - those are development methods, what you describe is at best an implementation technique.

    There are more things, but I guess you should develop yourself to recognize these issues on your own, otherwise your efforts to write about your ideas will not be rewarded.

    There are simple things you can do - one of them is look for peer review. You should not be afraid to have others test to see if they are as convinced about it as you are.

    kind regards, and good luck,

    Roland

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  5. Jonathan Levin28 September 2008 at 22:55

    @Roland, thank you for the comments. I think I have a better understanding now and maybe I was a bit naive about whole thing.

    I still believe that it is a good idea and I will carry on refining it. In the meantime, I will establish a separate wiki to be able to work on it.

    ReplyDelete
  6. rpbouman28 September 2008 at 23:20

    Jonathan,

    I am so glad my comments did not discourage you. Great! It's really inspiring to see somebody being enthusiastic about their ideas. I really mean that - you may win me over ;)

    I think your approach to start your own wiki on it is a good one. If you can get other developers interested, and share experiences, well, that seems to right way to do it - I hope you'll succeed, and at the very least, I hope you'll have a good time doing it.

    Bye bye, and best of luck,

    Roland

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  7. Jonathan Levin29 September 2008 at 23:48

    The post was moved to Google Knol

    ReplyDelete