Re: The Practical Benefits of the Relational Model

From: Costin Cozianu <c_cozianu_at_hotmail.com>
Date: Fri, 04 Oct 2002 09:17:42 -0700
Message-ID: <3D9DBF26.30101_at_hotmail.com>


Nathan Allan wrote:
> Costin Cozianu <c_cozianu_at_hotmail.com> wrote in message news:<3D99EEDD.40203_at_hotmail.com>...
>
>

>>I believe your web site talks about a data access engine and some data 
>>access components. Which one is it ?

>
>
> Dataphor Data Access Engine (or DAE).

If I understood correctly that it runs on top of a SQL DBMS. In this case I'd call it a Data Access Engine, not a DBMS

>>Types may have different precise definition in different type systems, 
>>but they do have a certain common functionality, that you have to 
>>provide. This is described briefly in "Type Systems".
>>
>>Stating that "my definition is different than yours" is not very 
>>helpful.

>
>
> Thus far this conversation has yielded very little agreement, and I
> hope it is not because we are trying to out-argue each other. The
> cause, I think, is that we have differing assumptions. I have taken a
> kind of mental step back and I think I see where you are coming from.

Of course I knew where you came from, but you should have known of the other perspectives before you made your claims.

>>I'm open to all definitions that come with a formal system or 
>>even a slightly informal one, as long as we can understand the logical 
>>implications, we can compare advantages and disadvantages.

>
>
> Here is part of my realization, all arguments and thinking I have
> given to this point assume we are working within 1st order predicate
> logic.

Why do you assume that ? The 1st order predicate logic provides the semantic for the RM.

> In other words, the system (in my mind) was already in place.
> I assumed this because any "type model" to be used within a relational
> system must surely be based on the same logic system as the relational
> model.

Relational model is based on relational algebra and relational calculus. Both are orthogonal to the type system as Mr. Date noted, why do you bring back the topic ? It is the semantic (interpretation, significance) of the RM that is within the 1st order logic, when you say that a tuple is to be _interpreted_ as a proposition.

I believe this confusion also led you to talk past each other with Paul vernon on the subject of view updates.

> I am no logician, but my understanding is that 1st order
> predicate logic defines types very clearly as sets of possible values.

Then, if you are not logician, you surely can get a book on mathematical logic and find out that 1st order logic doesn't deal with types _at all_. Types were introduced especially to go past the limitations of FOL.

Or at least that's what I was tought at university, and I just check another book (Henderton's Mathematical Introduction to Logic) to make sure. I'd be surprised to find out of a logic discipline that deal with type systems and call itself 1st order logic.

> With this perspective, you can see that any other definition of type
> does not correspond with the one by the same name in the relational
> model.

Haven't we established that the RM is orthogonal to types ? Then why are   you referring to "the type" or the "type system" defined in the relational model.

> To clarify an earlier statement: The specific domains of possible
> values are orthogonal to the relational model. Alternative "type
> systems" and other alternative logic systems are explicitly excluded.

I guess here you are at odds with Date in Introduction to Database Systems, D&D in TTM, Abiteboul, Vianu, and Hull in Foundations of Databases.

Can you substantiate your claim ?

>>>I certainly don't consider a implementation contract (interface) a
>>>type, and the implementation is (operators are) also orthogonal to
>>>type. 
>>
>>Either you confuse types with implementation, or you accuse me of 
>>confusing the two.

>
>
> I am accusing you of this because you stated that an "Interface" (as
> exists in Java) is a type.

It *is* a type.

> Again, now that I understand where you are
> coming from, these arguments are irrelevant.

Kind of fallacious don't you think ?

> Certainly I can make no
> rational argument against new logic systems that define type as
> whatever.

What logic system ? What logic system are you using that operates on types ?

I'm quite certain that it's not FOL as you claim, because otherwise you'd have to rewrite some books on logic.

But regardless of your claims about logic, let me explain to you why the arguments about higher order logic and proper type systems are relevant:

It's been already recognized that RM should be extended with user defined types and user defined functions. Those thingies have to be written (implemented, defined) in a kind of computational thing called a programming language. The DBMS has to manage that code, and verify it's correctness and safety in as much as possible.

Therefore all the concepts of programming languages suddenly become _relevant_ to DBMS. If you don't want to have redundancy in data, you also don't want to have redundacy in code (the code to be stored, and managed by the DBMS and that will extend the DBMS), youi want to have quality code in there. If you make difficult for the user to provide quality code, then UDT and UDF will become a nightmare.

Of course, this also implies : "adieux to FOL". It's been already understood for decades that 1st order logic, 1st order functions

>>Let's see an example ("real world" :) ). I have a cryptographic 
>>algorithm that works over finite fields. Let's rather say informally:
>>  P(private_key)= public_key.
>>
>>Now I have the mathematical algoithm for P. Obviously, I don't want to 
>>write that code again and again, for different finite fields, therefore 
>>I'd say that the  algorithm should be written *once* and for all for the 
>>most generic type FINITE FIELD.
>>
>>Now do you accept that FINITE FIELD is a type ?
>>If you construct for me a set of elements, can I verify that they indeed 
>>form a finite field, in other words, can you really separate the set 
>>from the structure defined over it ?
>>
>>By the way, how would you declare such a program in D4 ?


I'm still waiting for the asnwer to this one

>>>Mixing them in the way you describe has led to massive
>>>confusion on the subject. 
>>
>>Kind of patronizing, don't you think ?

>
>
> What can I say... I did not mean to offend, merely to state my opinion
> frankly.

Your unsubstantiated opinon that is.

>>I think the subject is not confused at all, unless you are confused 
>>about the subject, or you select the wrong references to prove your 
>>point. If you take time to study the _scientific_ work in the field 
>>you'll see that there's a rather large consensus.

>
>
> Let's be fair, the domain (pun excused) of our product is that of the
> relational model of data which is a logic system based on 1st order
> predicate logic. Within the RM, we have not encountered any general
> logical or practical problems. To the contrary, we actually
> gravitated to the RM as a _solution_ to many practical problems before
> encountered. We are particularly happy with the simple but capable
> definition of type within the RM.

This sounds like a marketing brochure.

>>No, we dont need to agree what _exactly_ a type is, unless you want to 
>>impose on me the view of Mr. Date.

>
>
> I would say that it is pretty important that we agree on what a type
> is in the RM.

It is totally unimportant. It is important that you agree on evaluation criteria that you use to judge the usefulness of various type systems to be "plugged-into" and extend the RM.

For example in DB2 (ok, it's not relational but you can use it as a RDBMS) I can create UDT, UDF in Java. Not the perfect type system by far, but at least I can define what a Field is, and then define functions that operates on elements of a Field as in the example above

In your system I'd have to do that in D4. By well established criteria (again referring to Cardelli's type system), I'd say that it would be even more cumbersome than in Java.

By your criteria (which I wasn't able to figure out past some marketing smelling claims abotu modeling the "real world", and some strange references to FOL that I find confusing ) it looks like it's the ideal to strive for, while you look down your nose to the "existing systems".

Kind of puzzling.

>>You'd have to have some darn good 
>>arguments, because, you know, there's an established discipline at the 
>>confluence of Logic, Algebra and Computer Science that has come up with 
>>an established theory and lots of *practical* result, and it doesn't 
>>operate by Mr. Date's definition.

>
>
> I am certainly not qualified to speak for them, but I think their
> position is that there is no need for another logic system. The RM
> has everything that is sufficient and necessary, so why come up with
> another "model."

No, it doesn't have everything that is sufficient and necessary, unless you restrict yourself to a ceratin class of practical problems.

For more specific problems you can have deductive databases, OODBs and other varieties. RM doesn't cover that, at least about constraint databases you can be sure.

How can a user express the knowledge "Either A or B" ? He can't in your model as pointed out by Paul Vernon. This proves that RM doesn't have "everything that is sufficient and necessary". So let's set the marketing claims aside, and let's acknowledge there's room for other varieties of databases to solve the problems for which the RM is not well suited. This leaves RDBMS with the lion's share of the market anyways.

> I think (hope) there is consensus on what a type is
> in the RM.

We had a consensus that type systems are orthogonal to RM until you change your mind.

> Within that definition, what Date and Darwen have done is
> to spell out how to do type inheritance.

Subtyping :) Within the definition they proposed and which have to be judged on its merits. It's not within the one and only definition possible for RM as you are claiming.

>>In the meantime TTM has come up with a 
>>  partial theory and no practical results. Where by result I mean a 
>>practical implementation of the system that is able to prove its 
>>usefulness.

>
> We have seen _many_ practical benefits from our implementation of TTM.

That's an entire different claim.

>>Ideally, as in the case of ML, the actual type systems 
>>should be _provable_ safe and sound.

>
>
> It is not provable in general that a loop will ever terminate, but we
> don't argue the usefulness of them.

But it is provable that ML's type system is safe and sound. And it is provable that particular loops terminate. As Dijkstra pointed out the highest art of programming is to write a program with its proof in mind.

>>A precise definition of type will be different in different systems, 
>>each with its own benefits.

>
>
> As pointed out by the original posting the RM yields many benefits, so
> my vote is for a type system that works within the grounds of the RM.

Your "vote" is entirely another matter altogether. You started by making quite some bold claims.

>>But we have to agree what are the essential 
>>roles and benefits of having a type system. And you can evaluate how Mr. 
>>Date's proposal compare with other type systems.

>
>
> I suppose the "essential roles and benefits of having a type system"
> are best illustrated by the classic problems with propositional
> calculus.

??

Again, I refer you to Cardelli's "Type Systems". Maybe you should buy the whole book in which it was published to be able to see the proper ( and larger ) context.

>>So far you have avoided to acknowlegde even the most obvious limitations 
>>of Mr. Date's proposal, like subtyping is undecidable.

>
>
> I have not avoided acknowledging them, there simply is nothing more to
> say about them then "yes, the system cannot enforce that I define my
> types correctly. Yes, this means the type developer can break things.
> I am okay with that."

Than why check types after all ? Let the developer take that responsibility also.

The first role of type systems is to oprevent developer from making type errors. That's a class of errors that should be preventable by the way we construct our programs, or otherwise type systems are useless and we can use an untyped perspective like that of Smalltalk.

> As touched on above in my loop example, many
> language elements are the same way.

Except that not all language elements are treated the same. Types have a distinct role.

>>>Type and value are inextricably linked.  You can't talk about one
>>>without the other.
>>
>>"Inextricably linked" sounds very informal to me. You can't say in 
>>Mathematics that 2 definitions (type and value) are "inextricably 
>>linked". Whenever you have a recursive definition or a system of 
>>recursive definitions, you have to actually show the way out of recursion.

>
>
> It was meant to be informal. If you would like a formal treatment,
> consult references on 1st order predicate logic.

That's what I strongly suggest you to do.

And because you won't find much thing about types in there, I suggest you take a look at Constable's Naive Type Theory.

> The best I can offer
> is perhaps a more precise informal description: The concept of
> "value" is introduced as part of "domain" (type).

If you construct a product that you claim is based on "theory" and a better theory for that matter then the pooh existing OO system (did I hear legacy?), you have to be able to offer better than that or admit you were wrong.

>>If you know French, I'd strongly recommend an article:  Giuseppe Longo: 
>>Cercles vicieux, Mathématiques et formalisations logiques. It's rather 
>>short and very dense and related to type systems. Maybe it can change 
>>your view on "inextricably linked".

>
>
> A pearl of wisdom I will have to forgo, as I do not speak French.

Too bad.

>>Do you actually verify the subtyping relation A <: B ?
>>Can you identify when 2 distinctly declared types are equal?
>>Do you provide automatic inference of the type lattice ?

>
>
> No No and No. (see above)
>
>
>>More to the point: do you really have a choice about those issues within 
>>the framework of TTM "type inheritance model" ?

>
>
> A choice? Yes I suppose there are many choices an implementer can
> make in this regard, so long as conceptual integrity is maintained.
 >
> For example, were the implementation to restrict user defined types
> such that they could only be subtypes of "system" types, than I
> imagine that the system could go much further (if not all the way) in
> ensuring and inferring the "lattice".

Then the whole thing breaks down and becomes unuseful.

>>Or to say it more bluntly, is it implementable ?

>
>
> So far, so good. :-)

How far ? :)

> Regards,
>
> --
> Nathan Allan

Best regards,
Costin Cozianu Received on Fri Oct 04 2002 - 18:17:42 CEST

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