The Codeless Code: Case 110 The Trunk
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A certain monk was summoned to the presence of master
Bawan:

“This trunk holds something which must be brought to the
Spider Clan,” said Bawan, pointing to a great wooden box
bound with iron straps. “Carry it to the abbot unaided and
he will reward you for your pains. A letter of explanation
is tucked under the latch.”

With great difficulty the monk hoisted the trunk upon his
back and set out across the temple grounds to the domicile
of the temple’s web developers. There he was received by the
abbot, who perused the letter while the exhausted monk
waited for his reward.

“This trunk is none of my concern,” said the abbot, stuffing
the letter back in place. “It must be brought to the abbess
of Laughing Monkey Clan. Carry it there unaided and your
compensation will be most enviable.”

The monk did as he was asked, panting with every step as he
crossed the temple grounds to the domicile of the business
logicians. The abbess resided on the topmost floor.

“This trunk is nothing to do with me,” said the abbess, who
refused to let the monk set his burden down. “It must be
brought to Elephant's Footprint Clan at once.”

“I think I see where this is going,” grimaced the monk.
“Perhaps one of your own monks can carry it?”

“No time, no time!” said the abbess, tucking the letter back
under the latch as she shooed the monk out the door. “Carry
it there unaided and great riches will await you!”

An hour later the monk staggered into the domicile of the
temple’s persistence-tier coders, collapsing in the main
hallway with the trunk still on his back. The white-haired
abbot was summoned.

“Wonderful!” said the old abbot after reading the letter.
The semi-conscious monk heard him open the lid and close it
again.  “Monk, wake up! As reward for your service you may
keep everything else in the trunk. Now be off!”

The monk crawled slowly out the door, like a turtle laboring
under a great wooden shell. It was nighttime when he reached
his own quarters and tipped the trunk off his back. The top
fell open and a hundred iron boxes spilled out.

He opened them one by one. All were empty.

Nothing else remained in the trunk but Bawan’s letter, which
the old abbot had tossed back inside. The monk unfolded it
and read:

To the abbots of the Three Clans—

In examining the performance problems of our shopping cart
system, I discovered that hundreds of actions in the webtier
are loading the very large and complex CatalogInfo object
tree from the database.

In examining the webtier, I discovered that these actions
are simply passing the unexamined CatalogInfo into the
sixteen service-tier methods which happen to demand it.

In examining the service tier, I discovered that these
methods are simply passing the unexamined CatalogInfo into
four persistence-tier methods which happen to demand it.

In examining the persistence tier, I discovered that these
methods are simply passing the unexamined CatalogInfo into
the one utility-tier method which happens to demand it.

In examining that single method, I discovered that it does
nothing but check the CatalogInfo’s integer-valued Type
property to ensure that it is not negative. I also
discovered that this method was authored by the young man
bearing my trunk.

Please ensure that he receives my explanation in a suitable
manner.