>Hi Kev,
>
>I use Mere Mortals to develop all my applications. I trust that the framework will take care of all the minute details I'd have to handle if I were to write everything from scratch (locking, updates, rollbacks, etc.).
>
>This forces me to really look at the solidity of my designs, which I in turn use UML for.
>
>Now, to really answer your question, I have two apps that work together at our store (TimeClock and Payroll), which are fairly simple and straightforward, yet I took the time to create a formal model (which also evolved during the development process, as I added more features).
>
>In spite of the apps being rather simple, I now have to make a few changes to them (to add features that we realized we need after using the system for about a year).
>
>Here's where the savings came in: looking at code I wrote just weeks ago used to be a painful experience. With the models in place and a good OOP foundation, I'm able to very quickly go to the right places and implement the changes I need without fearing that I'm "breaking" anything like used to be the case a few years ago. In other words, with n-tier and a good model, I have saved myself a lot of aggravation.
>
>Of course, you have to know where to draw the line and stop designing and start implementing. That's why I don't "close" either the analysis or implementation cycles and have both processes feed from one another. For instance, sometimes I'd implement a feature that is not in the model, so I update the model to reflect this (to keep the integrity of the design as it relates to the implementation).
>
>I must say thought, that I'm using a LOGICAL 3-tier design (dictated by the framework itself), so I'm still talking to vfp tables in the back-end, but should I want to go ahead and use MSDE or SQL server, I won't need to tear apart the guts of any of the elements of the system.

I'm hearing LOGICAL 3-tier design quite a lot, what is the main difference with LOGICAL 3-tier, is that because you are talking to the DB directly?

Thanks
Kev

>And that's my honest opinion ;-)
>
>Have fun!
>
>Alex
>>I want honest opinions on this, does anyone use full-blown OOP, n-tier development for EVERY application they write?, if it is required from the analysis.
>>
>>Analysis using UML defines a very strict OOP application, but I feel sometimes it's serious overkill for certain apps.
>>
>>What I want to know is, do you draw the line at some stage, what if you KNOW that your app is only a one off, and will never grow? Or at least be certain of it.
>>
>>I want some opinions, as I believe that there is a line between the practical and theory on this, which programmers can happily follow, whilst still following general principles.
>>
>>Thanks
>>Kev