Re: The Myth of relational algebra (was Re: Clean Object Class Design -- What is it?)

From: Joseph Bacanskas <jbacanskas_at_home.com>
Date: Fri, 07 Sep 2001 17:05:32 GMT
Message-ID: <w77m7.48168$MK5.27966187@news1.sttln1.wa.home.com>

Hi Vadim:

Sorry, I couldn't resist. Code from a system in GemStone/S a Smalltalk OODBMS. This code conforms closely to an in production object model

a Party has a collection of roles. The roles we need are the employeeRole and managerRole. Suffice it to say we have an EmployeeCollection. The EmployeeCollection implements the message managers, the manager implements directReports and the employeeRole implements salary. Employees and managers are Party objects with the appropriate Role object(s).

^EmployeeCollection soleInstance managers select: [ :eachManager |

        (eachManager directReports
                inject: 0 into: [:sum :eachEmployee | 
                        eachEmployee employeeRole salary + sum]) 
                                > eachManager employeeRole salary]

A fairly typical OODBMS solution to the problem using a Smalltalk OODBMS.

Cheers!

Vadim Tropashko wrote:

> In article <9na529$6u5$1_at_wrath.news.nacamar.de>, Adrian Veith says...

>>
>>6. Not shown but obvious: Queries are much easier to formulate in an OODB,
>>than in a RDBMS

> 
> Thre is a famous example for you to crack: find all managers who earn more
> than sum of their employees.
> 

>>Another myth states, that RDBMS are much more effective and quicker than
>>an OODB. Often this myth is explained with relational algebra and the
>>possibility to optimize queries in an RDBMS.
>>
>>As with all myths, there is true part:
>>Relational algebra gives you the possibility to transform a query in order
>>to optimize it.
>>
>>Wrong is:
>>1. That all optimizations of a query are done with relational algebra. The
>>most common optimization is to use an index. Relational algebra is used to
>>transform the query to use the index. But the index in itself is not
>>defined by relational algebra. (Since an index is normally a
>>tree-structure, it has more in common with an OODB if you want)

> 
> Not quite: materialized views work much the same way as indexes with query
> rewrite. They allow to speed up complex queries with joins and aggregates.
> How can you leverage materialized view technique in OODB without
> relational closure?

-- 
Thanks!!
Joseph Bacanskas [|]
--- I use Smalltalk.  My amp goes to eleven.

Received on Fri Sep 07 2001 - 12:05:32 CDT