I recently did a design review where there was an issue surrounding their choice of 'data storage implementation'. I use quotes because to me as a web developer, any data belongs in a database.
The issue arose over the fact that for this application written for the Java environment, they didn't need to store anything but usernames and passwords. They planned on using JDBC and having just one users table.
Like I said -- all well and good by me. I'm more used to having more tables and more relations between my data, but again it seemed most natural to me.
The surprise came when someone suggested that they just use a plain text file. If they were only going to store limited amounts of data and very very limited associations, why not just plain text?
Maybe this seems obvious to those who have had this experience before (or more than once), but it seemed so obvious to me that it was obscured. After the fact, it was indeed the right choice. Case to point: 1) Java has built in I/O operations 2) Their I/O operations would not (conceivably) cause any buildup and (most importantly) 3) JDBC is yet another thing to implement and (potentially) cause errors in their system.
Call me crazy but that Occam's Razor is either a natural talent or a life-long quest. For me it seems the latter.
So here's to other people's insightful (yet sometimes humiliating) comments that make our lives that much less complicated.
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