Terry,

>I am aware that some BIG corporate IT departments are releasing work products that are barely alpha (mostly untested). ALong the the lines "Just put it out there and let the end users debug it" That is a fact of life.

I understand the fact that you are arguing for optimizing code and I don't disagree with that -- particularly if there are obvious alternative methods to test in forming a data-access "best-practices" style of coding.

However, I must disagree with your "fact of life" stated above. My occasional projects that have involved BIG corporate IT departments have been the opposite of what you describe. In most cases, the HUGE amount of analysis and design work prior to coding, followed by a very rigorous and detailed testing plan, have far outweighed in time and effort the amount of coding involved.

Perhaps you and I have just coincidently observed two opposite ends of the spectrum every time we have been involved in BIG corporate IT projects, but I think your overall premise is pretty flawed and your fact of life is not accurate across the board.