[CS-FSLUG] Church Management Software

[Robert Wohlfarth]

EnzoAeneas <enzoaeneas at gmail.com> wrote:
> organization and faster access. Information in text files much be read
> in order, so searching is terribly slow and inefficient; storage of
> large quantities of data in this manner quickly becomes unweildly.
> Databases are not only able to deal with larger quantities of data,
> searching and find what is needed is far easier and faster (though not
[snip]

A lot of churches - especially the ones looking for free (cost)
software - have modest amounts of active data. I'm not sure if
performance is that much of a problem. 

A database adds complexity. It must be managed, supported, etc... The
cost, in this case, isn't money. Volunteers face a steeper learning
curve.

Which issue would cause the most frustration for a user? Waiting an
extra five seconds once a week, or spending 40 hours repairing
corrupted binary data followed by another 20 hours catching up on
halted work?

Now all of that is theory. The programmer's first axiom: theory and
reality never match. How does this sound for a test?
1) Create 1,000 text files.
	a) Each file contains 1,000 lines.
	b) Each line contains 100 characters.
2) Measure the time to find the first line in the first file.
3) Measure the time to find the 500th line in the 500th file.
4) Measure the time to find the last line in the last file.
5) Run a series of 100 searches for random lines from random files.

Yes, I'm offering to write and run such a test. Though it may take a
few days... Is it realistic enough to cover the a bad or worst case?

--
Robert Wohlfarth
rbwohlfarth at gmail.com

It is done.  I am the Alpha and the Omega, 
the Beginning and the End. -- Revelations 21:6