Simplify, simplify...

  • Thread starter Thread starter Fred Boer
  • Start date Start date
F

Fred Boer

Hello!

Not a question, just a comment; and if I can't talk about Access with all of
you, well, then who *will* listen to me? ;)

Today I was trying to make a small modification to the "Check Out" form I
have in my school library application. I've always thought the process I was
using was pretty darn clever. It used 3 forms and a number of procedures.
Well, I was just staring at it and it suddenly hit me that I could replace
all of this with a single unbound form and one continuous subform. I also
realized I could replace a bunch of code with one SQL INSERT statement.

Now, I'm not saying I'm clever (if I were would it have taken me two years
to see this?), but time and time again, I seem to find that there is a
simpler way to do things than the way I imagined it needed to be done. It's
almost as if there should be a rule printed above my monitor: "IF IT IS
COMPLICATED - IT IS WRONG!". In fact, I think that's just what I'm going to
do! :)

Thanks for listening!

Cheers!
Fred Boer
 
nice to know i'm not the only one who does things like that, Fred! my thing
is writing VBA code for a specific circumstance in a specific form, and then
(gradually) seeing how i can modify it into a "generic" procedure that i can
use in multiple forms and/or circumstances. no matter how many times i go
through that process, i never seem to learn how to see the "efficient" way
to do it *the first time*! <g>
 
Fred Boer said:
It's
almost as if there should be a rule printed above my monitor: "IF IT IS
COMPLICATED - IT IS WRONG!". In fact, I think that's just what I'm going to
do! :)
Click to expand...

Simpler to replace the two "IT IS" with "IT'S"
 
Fred said:
Not a question, just a comment; and if I can't talk about Access with all of
you, well, then who *will* listen to me? ;)

Today I was trying to make a small modification to the "Check Out" form I
have in my school library application. I've always thought the process I was
using was pretty darn clever. It used 3 forms and a number of procedures.
Well, I was just staring at it and it suddenly hit me that I could replace
all of this with a single unbound form and one continuous subform. I also
realized I could replace a bunch of code with one SQL INSERT statement.

Now, I'm not saying I'm clever (if I were would it have taken me two years
to see this?), but time and time again, I seem to find that there is a
simpler way to do things than the way I imagined it needed to be done. It's
almost as if there should be a rule printed above my monitor: "IF IT IS
COMPLICATED - IT IS WRONG!". In fact, I think that's just what I'm going to
do! :)
Click to expand...


Cheer up Fred, everyone does this ;-)

In fact, Physicists have a general rule about it called
Occam's Razor - If there is more than one way to explain a
phenomenon, the simplest way is probably the correct way.

The trick, of course, is to come up with multiple solutions
so you can compare them ;-)
 
Fred Boer said:
Now, I'm not saying I'm clever (if I were would it have taken me two years
to see this?), but time and time again, I seem to find that there is a
simpler way to do things than the way I imagined it needed to be done.
Click to expand...

Serious answer this time. I used to work for a company that did IT
training. I trained lots of people and one thing that a lot of the more
able people had in common was that at some point they came to me and said "I
just realised how much I don't know." And I think that works at just about
every level: I fully believe that if something is doable via a query then
I'll be able to do it... but I also recognise that I don't have the vaguest
clue about the kind of thing that Stephen Lebans works with in terms of
screen display issues and control modification. It's a case of knowing a)
what can be done and b) what you are able to do (at the moment)

To me, it sounds like you just came to the same kind of idea... keep it
going Fred.
 
Hi Marsh!
Cheer up Fred, everyone does this ;-)
Click to expand...

Oh, I'm perfectly cheerful! I didn't mean to suggest I was frustrated;
actually, I was a little smug when I thought about how "amateurish" a
solution I thought up back when I wasn't as smart as I am now! said:
The trick, of course, is to come up with multiple solutions
so you can compare them ;-)
Click to expand...

Interesting you should say that, since I just worked out a series of
databases for one of my classes, illustrating a half-dozen different ways to
manage updating a table. It was just as you say: when I saw 6 different
methods I was able to see which of them worked better.

Well, better go iron a shirt for work tomorrow... sadly, I can't think of
multiple methods to accomplish that one! ;)

Fred
 
Couldn't agree more, Rob! I know more than I used to, but as I learn I see
more clearly how much I don't know. Still, gives lots of room for growth,
eh?

Cheers!
Fred

P.S. My secret theory is that Stephen isn't really from our planet. I once
wrote a Star Trek TNG parody in which Stephen played the role of "Q"...
seemed to fit!
 
you're right, Rob. can't lurk in these newsgroups for long, or surf any
related sites, or crack any related books, without taking away a bagful of
shining lightbulbs - and generous servings of humble pie! :)
 
in message:
... but I also recognize that I don't have the vaguest
clue about the kind of thing that Stephen Lebans works with in terms of
screen display issues and control modification.
Click to expand...

Confucius say, "We are all but students to the mighty Lebans."
 
Fred said:
Hi Marsh!


Oh, I'm perfectly cheerful! I didn't mean to suggest I was frustrated;
actually, I was a little smug when I thought about how "amateurish" a


Interesting you should say that, since I just worked out a series of
databases for one of my classes, illustrating a half-dozen different ways to
manage updating a table. It was just as you say: when I saw 6 different
methods I was able to see which of them worked better.

Well, better go iron a shirt for work tomorrow... sadly, I can't think of
multiple methods to accomplish that one! ;)
Click to expand...


There's almost always multiple ways to do anything, but for
ironing shirts, I'm pretty sure that's the simplest way.
Certainly a lot more efficient(?) than marrying a laundry
lady ;-)
 
When I first started to learn programming (1977), my mentor required 3
solutions for every problem. I then had to pick the best and defend it.

He also told me that an expert's code would look remarkabley like a
beginner's. The beginner has yet to learn the exotics and could only do the
simple things. Those who had a couple of year would start learning cute
tricks, and their code would be overly complex and obtuse. It would then
take another couple or three years for them to learn the folly of their ways
and they return to a more simplistic, straight forward approach.

He was right. I see it all the time.
 
Fred if there was time I would wrte every application to see how to do it
then i would write it again having had time to learn from my mistakes and
sleep on the problem for a while. But you are right, Most things are very
simple and access makes it very easy to make life complicated and slow.

KISS. Keep it Simple Stupid.
 
now, now, Marsh - simplify! marrying the laundry lady is so complex - much
simpler to hire a laundryperson (don't want to exclude the guys from this
employment field in these hard times, do we? <g>). taking the shirts to the
cleaners is even simplier. but remember the rule: solve problems closer to
the source whenever possible. so just buy wash 'n wear shirts, and avoid the
issue entirely.

gee, could database development be a metaphor for life, master? <bg>
 
L O L

Great ideas Tina, just goes to show:
two heads are better than one
and
the power of diversity
is leading us to a better solution ;-)

If someone can relate philosophy to motorcycle repair, I
don't see anything odd about using database design as a
metaphor for just about anything ;-)
 
If someone can relate philosophy to motorcycle repair, I
don't see anything odd about using database design as a
metaphor for just about anything ;-)
Click to expand...

LOL


Marshall Barton said:
L O L

Great ideas Tina, just goes to show:
two heads are better than one
and
the power of diversity
is leading us to a better solution ;-)

If someone can relate philosophy to motorcycle repair, I
don't see anything odd about using database design as a
metaphor for just about anything ;-)
--
Marsh
MVP [MS Access]

now, now, Marsh - simplify! marrying the laundry lady is so complex - much
simpler to hire a laundryperson (don't want to exclude the guys from this
employment field in these hard times, do we? <g>). taking the shirts to the
cleaners is even simplier. but remember the rule: solve problems closer to
the source whenever possible. so just buy wash 'n wear shirts, and avoid the
issue entirely.

ways
to
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
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