Quoting Jesper Sörensen on Sun 5 Jan 2003 21:24 to Jan Vermeulen:

 js> The problem is how do you know what data to add, update or delete?

    Diff-files tell you which records to add, which to replace, which to
delete and which to leave alone.

 js> The diffs don't say "add 2:204/255..."; they say
"copy (ignore) 17
 js> lines", "delete 3 lines", "add the following 4
lines" and so on, so
 js> you still need to have the original nodelist to be able to resolve
 js> the diff into something useful. :-(

    You are expected to work on complete records that have been arranged in
a given order -- what are you planning to do to the data that you can't
locate your records anymore?

    Do you want to scatter your data all over the place without creating an
index file or what?

 JV>>     Sure. Bytes 0x20 thru 0x7F plus EOF. We'll tackle your name later
 JV>> ;-)

 js> Is that a promise? ;-)

    Sort of. It may take some time to get there ;-)

    [skipping the alphabet problem]

 JV>>     If you want to write code for the net, you first should look at
 JV>> what the net needs and will able to use; your joy should come from a
 JV>> job well done, not of the coding itself. That is very much secondary.

 js> Sure, but for me a "job well done" doesn't only mean that it works.
 js> It should be simple, logical, elegant and neat too...

    As a dancer in the theatre?

 js> ... and bending, twisting and inventing new kludges doesn't fit
 js> very well into that.

    Never saw dancers do a twist, then?


    -==-