>Don't now about that article, but by the author name, he's probably biased. 8-)
http://www.informit.com/content/index.asp?product_id=%7B47A49B11-A547-44DE-87F7-92C0D32E78DF%7D&051803

>
>Fear not. Believe me that VFP is MANY times a better tool to develop n-tier apps than VB, both on the data, middle, and user tiers.

We're talking about the VFP data engine - of course the GUI tool is great! But, so is VFP's record pointer and reiterative record service.
>
>You should try to follow his reasoning. I'd be better trust in a smart guy knowledge than in my own ignorance. ;-)
I make my own judgements - other views can be helpful - but - they can also be a product of ignorance, un-supportable bias, and a major pita :-)

>I don't understand that last sentence. Do you mean that n-tier apps are slower? That's not true at all. N-tier apps can be slower of faster than monolithic apps, just depending on how well they are designed and built. This architecture issue is not guarantee of performance at all, but in some circumstances, n-tier can be a LOT faster than a monolithic app.

Read the article about tiered vs layered - most VFP apps are layered - which implies a tiered architecture without the requisite physical seperation of services. Layered apps are a logical seperation. Tiered APPs are a logical as well as a physical seperation. In most operations, a tiered solution is not required, unless, of course, you are suggesting that a small business with 15 or 20 desktops in one office, switch to an Access backend (they ain't gonna buy SQL and a DBA!), just so a VFP developer can lockstep with the nTier evangelicals:-).

What is a monolithic app?

>I think you think n-tier architecture is something complex and snobish.

No I don't - if we are writing apps for a mult-national or broad based user - then sure - ntier may make sense.

>This is something like saying that OOP is slower and most costly than procedural code.

OOP is just a means to reference and point to 'procedural services'. OOP, without procedures (or methods) is like a shower without water. OOP would not exist unless procedures were available to do the work.


>Please, take the chance to know about it a bit more. I think you'll realize that you have some basic misunderstandings. If not, I'll be glad to know your good reasons against n-tier.

No reasons against n-tier, except that most of the market doesn't need to buy it. Are you saying all projects should be tiered. Isn't that a bit of an expensive overkill?