Re: 0.99999998 (was: Unknown SQL)

"Sam Staton" <sam.staton_at_bigfoot.com> wrote in message news:7epkhtgm9jrpliu2j21bqsmflbbohocdh5_at_4ax.com...
> Incidentally, the person who wrote the initial queries was a newcomer
> to SQL with little experience (I notice that people have been claiming
> that SQL is easy to use for newcomers).

I think that SQL, actually, IS fairly easy to learn for a newcomer.

What isn't so easy to learn is how data works. This seems so simple as to be not even worth
discussing, but it's actually where the problem lies.

The problems of Mrs. Robinson = Mrs. Robinson but the references are to different people,
and "Fred Smith" <> "Mr. Frederick Smith" but the references are to the same person are
NOT problems with SQL. The same issue arises in any language that manipulates data.

The problem is one of representation and interpretation, when using data to represent entities in the "real world". People who don't understand this can learn all the SQL, or all the Java, or all the COBOL they want, and still screw up with the use of data. Received on Sat Jul 21 2001 - 18:29:40 CDT