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I have no words for how broken this is. You don't refactor data. Data is. Refactor your code. Data isn't a model for "how you do business." Data should be a
by ianamartin 11y ago
I have no words for how broken this is.
You don't refactor data. Data is. Refactor your code.
Data isn't a model for "how you do business."
Data should be a model for what is. How you do business is an interpretation of the underlying data.
I deeply disagree with your approach, but I hope to do so with respect.
- Terr_ 11y agoI think you may be overstimating the quality of data I'm griping about. Some of the tables are mostly-unused metadata about optional key-value pairs stored in other tables. Some of the key-value pairs are queried constantly but still haven't become "real columns" because nobody wants to rock the boat. So instead there are dozens of extra joins and queries going on, and looking at CREATE TABLE definitions helps you find only about 60% of the data-points you might be interested in. In some places entities are related not by a link-table or foreign-key, but by having a similar prefix in a text-value. (So WHERE clauses contain substring checks.) I believe one of the many contributing causes is that people tried to store their data ASAP before they knew exactly how they wanted to use it, and then the next time they assure themselves the data is technically available without stopping to consider whether it's available in the right way.