Re: Drumbeat 2000 vs. Visual InterDev

Malcolm -

I agree that hand-coded anything is better than the results from a wizard, 
but I've used wizards as a learning tool. Sure, they can't do it all, but 
they help you get your feet wet. The wise person then looks at the code 
generated, gets a feel for the syntax and eases into a new language. So I 
don't think you should dismiss Front Page (or wizards in general) so 
categorically.

I also have observed the same thing you mention with regard for attitudes 
toward Drumbeat.
Our shop is in the process of evaluating various packages to run off our 
Sun Solaris box against a Sybase data-warehouse. Drumbeat didn't make the 
short list.

Patty Toretti
ptoretti(at)clayhead.com

At 01:22 AM 03/08/2000 -0500, Malcolm Smart wrote:
>Joe:
>
>Please, stay away from this Front Page nonsense. Wizards are great for doing
>table-dumps and not much else. You might get most of the application up for
>your client, but within a few weeks, you'll be probably be getting requests
>to 'modify this so it does that', and your wizards are not going to be able
>to help you.
>
>I don't know if you read WebSanDiego, but coincidentally, there was a thread
>about Drumbeat there a few days ago. One person said they had just installed
>it, another said they were just learning it but didn't think too much of it,
>and a third said 'let us know what you find'. No one is jumping in here
>saying how wonderful it is. Stop and think why that might be. 18 months ago,
>I was frequently being asked why I chose to develop with hand-coded ASP over
>Drumbeat, but I haven't even heard the name for over  a year until these two
>threads. No noise means no good.
>
>It's my experience that you've just got to do most of this stuff by hand. I
>just inherited a VisualInterDev-generated site (which is really FrontPage),
>and it sucks. It might limp by, and was probably quick and cheap to get up
>and running, but this client now faces some pretty hefty bills to bring the
>site to its next incarnation. It would have been cheaper to build it right
>from the get go.
>
>Malcolm Smart
>Smart Online Services
>malcolm(at)smart-web.com

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