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Don Y[_3_]

On 2/6/2016 10:43 PM, wrote:

The biggest problem I have is I will take a picture and name it with
something like "Christmas 2006" in the name and then later I will
figure out that may be the only picture of something I have that has
no relation to Christmas so I am still looking through hundreds of
shots.

Coming up with *a* name for (damn near ANYTHING!) is virtually
impossible -- if you want to LATER be able to determine what
the significant aspects of that "thing" might be.

I've been involved with several small companies/startups
that are trying to put procedures/mechanisms in place upon
which to build.

Part numbering systems are my favorite example of peoples'
inability to acknowledge the complexity inherent in the description
of any THING! Invariably, "some guy" sits down and tries to impose
some "order" on the numbering system: I'll let the first digit
indicate whether it's a fastener, solvent or raw material; the second
digit will REFINE that (e.g., "fastener, screw" vs. "fastener, nut");
the third will refine *that* (e.g., "fastener, screw, reeds&prince"
vs. "fastener, screw, philips")

And, they are invariably pleased with themselves for how CLEVER
they've been!

Until someone shows up with an item that doesn't quite fit one
of their neat little categories: e.g., a "threaded standoff"
(a male "screw" on one end but a female "nut" on the other!).

They then resort to adding a special category called "other".
And, the number of items in this category starts to grow -- making
it impractical to "search". I.e., any time they want a list
of screws, they have to list the *screws* part numbers plus all
of the "other" parts -- in case there are some items in there
that sort-of qualify as screws.

And, if you start changing part numbers ("names"), then existing
documents that reference the "old" numbers don't work anymore!

This was one reason for abandoning a "file system" as the persistent
store in my current project. Moving everything into tables
("relations") lets me add qualifiers later without mucking up
existing "data". E.g., I can add an attribute called "color"
without having to alter the name of the item to reflect that "color".

At the same time, it lets me *tag* attributes so I can look
for "COLOR=red" instead of trying to search for "red" in the
NAME of an item!