Re: Is mysql a RDBMS ?

Morten,

>> With SQL, I believe you mean SQL-86 as well as SQL-92 ? And I believe your statement holds for all versions of MySQL ? <<

From the relational model's perspective, SQL (all standard and proprietary flavors) is flawed. Many database experts & authors realize this, but SQL being too popular simply over-shadows the relational model from allowing the users from even knowing that SQL is deficient and contributes to many prevalent misconceptions.

Some quick points...

-* SQL tables are not relations. A relation can be defined only by its named
& typed attributes (done by domains) which follows that,
-* SQL does not support relational domains.
-* SQL associates positional value to columns and this violates the base
definition of a relation itself.
-* SQL allows duplicates which imply that keys are optional. This violates
every possible and applicable concept of a relation including data independence and key based identification. Simply adding keys to an SQL table or using DISTINCT everywhere does not make it a relation because,
-* SQL operations violate relational closure. SQL operations create result
sets that can contain duplicates, nulls etc.
-* SQL Views are not relations and do not always provide logical data
independence (View updates etc. are still being explored & lack of sound theoretical basis causes rampant confusion)
-* SQL has Nulls & anything which lack values cannot be in a relation and
thus Nulls invalidate relations.
 .. And the list goes on and on...

As mentioned before, grab a good relational book to learn the basics of relational data model. Soon you'll realize that many data modeling experts and industry pioneers are simply blowing hot air just for commercial reasons.

-- 
- Anith
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