Data services are more flexible than files

Data services provide data. So do files. But the two are very different.

In the classic PC world ("classic" meaning desktop applications), the primary storage mechanism is the file. A file is, at its core, a bunch of bytes. Not just a random collection of bytes, but a meaningful collection. That collection could be a text file, a document, a spreadsheet, or any one of a number of possibilities.

In the cloud world, the primary storage mechanism is the data service. That could be an SQL database, a NoSQL database, or a web service (a data service). A data service provides a collection of values, not a collection of bytes.

Data services are active things. They can perform operations. A data service is much like a query in an SQL database. (One may think of SQL as a data service, if one likes.) You can specify a subset of the data (either columns or rows, or both), the sequence in which the data appears (again, either columns or rows, or both), and the format of the data. For sophisticated services, you can collect data from multiple sources.

Data services are much more flexible and powerful than files.

But that's not what is interesting about data services.

What is interesting about data services is the mindset of the programmer.

When a programmer is working with data files, he must think about what he needs, what is in the file, and how to extract what he needs from the file. The file may have extra data (unwanted data rows, or perhaps undesired headings and footings). The file may have extra columns of data. The data may be in a sequence different from the desired sequence. The data may be in a format that is different from what is needed.

The programmer must compensate for all of these things, and write code to handle the unwanted data or the improper formats. Working with files means writing code to match the file.

In contrast, data services -- well-designed data services -- can format the data, filter the data, and clean the data for the programmer. Data services have capabilities that files do not; they are active and can perform operations.

A programmer using files must think "what does the file provide, and how can I convert it to what I need?"; a programmer using data services thinks "what do I need?".

With data services, the programmer can think less about what is available and think more about what has to be done with the data. If you're a programmer or a manager, you understand how this change makes programmers more efficient.

If you're writing code or managing projects, think about data services. Even outside of the cloud, data services can reduce the programming effort.