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On Thu, Apr 29, 2004 at 09:41:07AM +0100, Jonathan Stowe wrote: > > On Wed, Apr 28, 2004 at 11:10:26PM +0200, Abigail wrote: > > > > > > Take for instance the registration form for YAPC::NA. It assumes > > > everyone has a first and a last name, and just can't deal with the > > > fact not everyone has one. > > I have found this particularly prevalent with name prefixes or titles or > whatever you might want to call them That's because programmers and database designers think there are simple rules to this sort of thing, even though the rules are anything but simple, even without people who are exceptions to the rules. For example, Sir John Smith is "Sir John" in situations where Mr Fred Jones is simply "Fred". Simplifying your database to include title, firstname and lastname is oversimplification, and you end up with workarounds like we have here where "Sir John" is in the title field and there is a null value for the firstname. http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/guide/articles/f/video_clips_ram/fawltytowers_7772600_3.ram seems relevant. And if not relevant, it can at least take our minds off hateful softeware. sThere's stuff above here
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