So, I've been coding web apps for some time now... typically I've done both the data structs and retrieval and the client side coding. I now have a data admin teammate working with me and his sole job is to return data from a database to an api that serves json; standard stuff.
Recently, I have been having a disagreement with him on how this data should be returned. Essentially, we have two json objs, the first loaded remotely once (which includes racer name, racer number, etc...) when the application starts. Secondly, (during the race which is a recurring timed data call) we receive positions incrementally which contains a racer's lat/lon, spd etc.
Where we differ is that he is stating that it is "inefficient" to return the racer name (the first call) in the telem string (the second call). What this forces me to do is to keep the first data obj in a global obj, and then essentially get the racer's lat/long, spd from the second data obj "on the fly" using a join lookup function, which then returns a new json obj that I populate to a racer grid using jqGrid (looks something like this: getRaceDataByID(json[0].id){//lookup race data by racer id in json[1] where json[1].id == json[0].id[lat/lon, spd] and return new json obj row to populate jqgrid})).
The result seems to be to be an overly-coded/slow client (jquery) application.
My question is about theory. Of course I understand traditional data structs, normalization, sql etc... But in today world of "webapps" and the idea that it seems that larger web services are going away from "traditional sql" data structures and just returning the data as the client needs. In this sense, it would mean adding about 3 fields (name, bib number, vehicle type, etc...) to the sql call on each position telem call so I can display the data on the client per the interface's requirement (a data table that display real-time speed, lat/lon, etc...).
So finally, my question: has anyone had to deal with a situation like this and am I "all wet" in thinking that 3 fields per row, in today's world of massive data dependent web applications, that this is not a huge issue to be squabling over.
Please note: I understand that traditionally, you would not want to send more data than you need and that his understanding of data structs and inefficient data transfers (not sending more data than you need) is actually correct.
But, many times when I'm coding a web apps, it's often looked at a bit differently b/c of the stateless nature of the browser, and IMHO and it's much easier to just send the data that is needed. My question, is not being driven by not wanting to code the solution, but rather trying to put less load on the client by not having to re-stitch the json obj into something that I needed in the first place.
I think it makes sense to send these 3 fields with the rest of the data, even if this warrants some sort of duplication. You get the following advantages:
As far as speed goes, you are doing the majority of the work in your remote call, adding another 3 fields doesn't matter IMHO. It makes your app cleaner.
So I guess I agree w/you.