hopper, 1993 [4.3.3, abstract, overview, toc, switchboard, references]

4.3.3.2 Adaptability of Databases

The redesigned version of ESCAPE could be automatically exported to a database format, and the accessibility of the data allowed the system to be available in a wider variety of settings. This allowed the ESCAPE team to "escape" from the constraints of using any particular vendor's hardware or software. The restructured system was better in a fundamental way beyond portability which was usability by virtue of consistency.
 
Over the course of transferring ESCAPE to the Sun, it was clear that the heart of the problem of exporting and storing the data was the issue of formats and standards. The distinction also became blurred between the mid-development platform change which was the initial cause of porting and a deeper adaptability issue. The new ESCAPE addressed the issue of creating a way for exporting the data that at that up to that point was only stored within HyperCard in an inconsistent format. Even if the ESCAPE project had not changed platforms, there was going to be an inevitable long term adaptability problem in the earlier version. The ESCAPE data could have been easily lost if it was trapped in its previous inconsistent and proprietary format within HyperCard.
 
The new verison of ESCAPE provided a database with the "adaptability" of providing availability of the data on another platform. The ESCAPE data was also incidently guaranteed to remain usable on a long term basis because it was maintained outside HyperCard in consistent, commonly accepted, non proprietary format. Technically oriented people associated with the ESCAPE project applauded the fundamental benefit of the redesign that allowed exportation to a standard database format. In a the following conversation between Lawler and Hopper (personal interview, July 20, 1992) this point is highlighted:
 
Lawler: One of the general issues that is part of the business world is the portability of systems. As a database designer, I was always concerned with tradeoffs, and whether or not the knowledge that you've invested in when you bring up a system on one piece of hardware would be portable to a different vender's computer at a minimal cost. That is a central concern for people who manage computer resources in a business community. A second point is that businesses usually deal with important information. They never want to lose data. So it's very important that if you have files, you back them up in such a way that they can be restored in case of a system disaster. This embodies a whole mind set: that what you have as a system is only one image of the reality of what data is. The practice of down loading files, and recreating files at need, is functionally central. This focus gives a kind of access to cross vendor portability.
© Mary E. Hopper | MEHopper@TheWorld.com [posted 12/04/93 | revised 04/12/13]