On Tue, Jun 24, 2008 at 10:03 AM, Simon Budig <simon@xxxxxxxx> wrote: > Mark (wolfmane@xxxxxxxxx) wrote: >> On Tue, Jun 24, 2008 at 9:28 AM, Simon Budig <simon@xxxxxxxx> wrote: >> > No, I maintain, that import and export conceptually is a special case of >> > sync. >> >> ...and you are wrong. >> >> By definition, sync is the process of making sure that two or more >> locations contain the *same* up-to-date files: >> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File_synchronization > > *Files*? I thought we were talking about database records of contact > information? I guess you were confused when you picked this link? > You clearly have a lot of trouble with concepts. Databases *are* files. When you sync records, what you are actually doing is updating the database *files* so that they are identical. >> Again, including import/export functionality in a sync app does NOT >> mean that import/export is a subset of sync. > > Database 1 is some binary blob, stored by EDS on the disk that > represents a set of contact adresses. > > Database 2 is a not yet existing file on disk, which by convention is > interpreted as conatining zero contact adresses. > > A sync application has plugins to talk to database 1 and database 2. > > The sync application does its magic thing, the plugin for database 2 > queries for a name for the not yet really existing file on disk. > > While doing the sync operation the plugin for database 1 knows about > lots of contact adresses, the plugin for database 2 knows none, the sync > algorithm decides that it would be best to store the contact adresses in > database 2 as well. > > The plugin for database 2 receives lots of contact adresses and chooses > to use a csv representation for the on disk storage of the contact > adresses. > > The net result: a previously not existing, CSV structured file that > contains the contact adresses of Database 1. > > I'd call that export. Exactly. It's *export*, NOT *sync*. And the sync application was designed to handle certain situations by doing an export operation *rather than* a sync operation. > And since it is a sync algorithm doing this, the > sync concept is a superset of the export concept. > Wrong. It's a section of sync code that incorporates export functionality to handle a specific situation that CANNOT BE HANDLED BY SYNC. > > No, it is not easy, it is not convenient, it is not straightforward, it > needs some conceptual thinking to view it like this, but the concept is > sound. > > Later you might even want to "sync" new Adresses in EDS-database 1 into > your CSV "database". If plugin 2 is good it might actually work. Hence > sync does more than export. > > Bye, > Simon > -- > simon@xxxxxxxx http://simon.budig.de/ Sigh... sync does *differently* than export, not "more", because they are not the same thing. Mark _______________________________________________ maemo-users mailing list maemo-users@xxxxxxxxx https://lists.maemo.org/mailman/listinfo/maemo-users
