Hypes and Disruptors

On of the most interesting challenges in software development is a proper analysis on a new piece of technology, process of theoretical framework, hereafter referred to as a concept. Is the concept a hype or is it a disruptor?

Probably stating the obvious, but a hype is a concept where the marketing value surpasses the actual value and generates a bubble of activity that can only end in a bursting sometime or later.

Now, a disruptor on the other hand, is a concept with the ability to displace existing concepts. A disruptive technology has the power to upset existing industry models and do so quickly as well, so it is wise to keep tabs on it. That is, if it can be identified as such.

Nearly every discussion on new concepts is clouded because -- let's face it -- most people do not know what they are talking about. Instead of being upfront about this, smoke and mirrors is applied, and conversation is muddled. I think any discussion on a new concept should be an open-minded exploration with the sole aim of going to the heart of the matter and identifying that what makes the concept valuable. Or not, of course.

To further complicate matters, new concepts rightly often focus only on a subdomain of that in which it can be applied, so that it only fixes its particular problem. Therefore most of the time, a new concept "forgets" about acquired wisdom and experience from previous technology.

I think that it is an acceptable price to be pay for a disruptor. A small group of people can hardly be expected to take on the whole domain. In the discussion those gaps need to be accounted for, and extensions or future concepts can build on the Shoulders of Giants, as it were.

Sometimes a concept has a real price attached, one that is fundamental to the idea. The price could well be too high to pay. Here we are being harassed by religious proponents of the concept, sometimes tagging themselves as evangelists, as if proud of their obnoxious nature, immunity to reason and good conversation, and loud-mouthedness in proclaiming their one-way gospels. A detestable group.

Finally, there are the forces of conservation. These people have learned the hard way that most of what they see is hype and have henceforth insulated themselves to new ideas. Any new concept is struck down well before proper discussion has taken place by applying the dreaded "Hype" label.

Ignorance, Extremism and Conservation -- these are the enemies of innovation.

We have seen a lot of disruptors over time. And a lot of hypes as well. Seek out the people with whom you can explore the concept and avoid the ones that cannot. Or, if they can be rescued from ignorance, extremism and conservation, educate them how to be open-minded in the matter. Our industry would benefit from a broadly adopted Enlightened mindset.

Case "Dynamic Order By" When?

The other day I ran into a nicety of SQL that I was not aware of. Not that that is special, but I think this nicely illustrates how the Old World has taken into account aspects which are not (yet) secured in the New World.

Let us suppose you have a table that has a column called state. Within that column you have the following distinct values:
- pending_approval
- approved
- rejected

Let us also assume that you want to order retrieved rows in the exact same order as I listed the items.

A regular order by won't do. It will show the results alphabetically, either ascending or descending.

Usually, I am inclined to prepend the values with sortable pieces of text such as 1_, however this messes up the semantics of the value. Doing this makes me feel dirty.

Well, what do you know, SQL actually took this scenario into account:

  select * from table
  order by case state
    when 'pending_approval' then 0
    when 'approved' then 1
    when 'rejected' then 2
  end;

What a gem!

The functionality goes quite deep, giving you even the option to fetch values from other columns.

Regrettably, this functionality cannot be accessed through JPA/Hibernate. My good colleague and database prima donna, Ron Smeets, advises to lay a view upon the table. Interesting idea, though for the specific use case I am looking at, this is not an option. This probably means going back to using JDBC.

As far as I am concerned, certainly goes to show that the database layer still holds treasures for application developers to discover.

Hiring people

If you are a manager and you are in a position to hire people, there is something you can do right really easy and really fast.

Do not be dismayed by people whom you think might be more talented than you yourself are!

Instead, relish the thought of hiring those people, even though the mere thought gives you shivers and breaches your comfort zone. You are now truly laying the foundations for a stronger organization.

In the end, you will be repaid with something much more valuable than a kingdom of mindless zombies, willingly assuming the position, nodding aye to everything you say and laughing to every stupid joke you make. Instead, you are in a position to experience being part of a team that can shape history.

Not only that, but there is no better way to keep you sharp and on-edge than surrounding yourself with those that are likewise equipped and honed.

So next time you are evaluating a candidate and you feel slightly threatened -- hire the person!