• Visitors can check out the Forum FAQ by clicking this link. You have to register before you can post: click the REGISTER link above to proceed. To start viewing messages, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below. View our Forum Privacy Policy.
  • Want to receive the latest contracting news and advice straight to your inbox? Sign up to the ContractorUK newsletter here. Every sign up will also be entered into a draw to WIN £100 Amazon vouchers!

Crappiest database design in a commercial system

Collapse
X
  •  
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

    Crappiest database design in a commercial system

    I nominate IBM's cognos

    Main reasons:

    A separate table for each year's data.
    Year/Period/Day stored in date format.

    I'm ignoring the completely meaningless table/column names, as presumably they mean something in Swedish, but they certainly don't aid understanding.

    I daresay there are other horrors that I have yet to encounter.

    Last time I saw something this bad, it had been knocked up in access by a non-IT person.


    Anyone come across worse? (I'm scared to read the answers to this question...)
    Last edited by mudskipper; 4 August 2014, 07:09.

    #2
    you have put 3 letters in that post which after the last 2 years of absolute hell make me want to curl up in a corner and gibber for half an hour

    Comment


      #3
      Originally posted by original PM View Post
      you have put 3 letters in that post which after the last 2 years of absolute hell make me want to curl up in a corner and gibber for half an hour

      Comment


        #4
        you seen OBI(EE)??
        Always forgive your enemies; nothing annoys them so much.

        Comment


          #5
          Probably not really IBM's fault, they inherited this design and would probably have cost a fortune to change/remodel:

          Cognos (Cognos Incorporated) was an Ottawa, Ontario-based company making business intelligence (BI) and performance management (PM) software. Founded in 1969, at its peak Cognos employed almost 3,500 people and served more than 23,000 customers in over 135 countries until being acquired by IBM on January 31, 2008. While no longer an independent company, the Cognos name continues to be applied to IBM's line of business intelligence and performance management products.
          Brexit is having a wee in the middle of the room at a house party because nobody is talking to you, and then complaining about the smell.

          Comment


            #6
            Not nearly as bad but a personal accounting application for the Mac platform a few years ago.

            It was painfully slow and couldn't keep up with my typing. A peek at the database schema told me why.

            There were a gazillion indexes defined and quite a few of them were fields which could only have 2 values.

            I learned that such fields weren't good candidates for indexes back when I was using ISAM files a lifetime ago.
            Behold the warranty -- the bold print giveth and the fine print taketh away.

            Comment


              #7
              Originally posted by darmstadt View Post
              Probably not really IBM's fault, they inherited this design and would probably have cost a fortune to change/remodel:
              So the original company pre-dates Codd's introduction of the concept of normalisation in 1970? Still, you'd think they could perhaps have caught up a bit by now

              Comment


                #8
                Originally posted by NickFitz View Post
                So the original company pre-dates Codd's introduction of the concept of normalisation in 1970? Still, you'd think they could perhaps have caught up a bit by now
                Codd has been coming up in a few places lately:

                EDGAR F. ("TED") CODD

                For his fundamental and continuing contributions to the theory and practice of database management systems.

                ...

                As part of his service in the RAF, Codd was sent to the United States for aviation training. That experience led to a lifelong love of recreational flying, also to a recognition that the United States had a great deal to offer for someone of a creative bent like himself. As a consequence, he emigrated to the United States soon after graduating in 1948. After a brief period with Macy’s in New York City, working as a sales clerk in the men’s sportswear department, he found a job as a mathematics lecturer at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, where he taught for six months
                Behold the warranty -- the bold print giveth and the fine print taketh away.

                Comment


                  #9
                  The old JDE field naming convention was from memory

                  table id (2), field name (3) field type (3)

                  trying to write a query in a hurry when fixing a warehouse issue was rather painful...
                  merely at clientco for the entertainment

                  Comment


                    #10
                    I know it's not a database, but has anyone had the misfortune to work with a VCS called Borland StarTeam? Ghastly.

                    Comment

                    Working...
                    X