Re: does a table always need a PK?

From: Heikki Tuuri <Heikki.Tuuri_at_innodb.com>
Date: Mon, 25 Aug 2003 22:39:49 GMT
Message-ID: <Vew2b.4177$G37.1909_at_read3.inet.fi>


Lee,

"Lee Fesperman" <firstsql_at_ix.netcom.com> kirjoitti viestissä news:3F4A7F1D.291C_at_ix.netcom.com...
> Bob Badour wrote:
> >
> > "Heikki Tuuri" <Heikki.Tuuri_at_innodb.com> wrote in message
> > news:GEg2b.11$G37.0_at_read3.inet.fi..
> > > 2 years ago we discussed the 'correct' definition of 'relational' in
> > > comp.databases.theory with several people. I think the concept is
vague.
> > > For example, Codd's 12 principles are not formulated as mathematical
axioms.
> >
> > Read the 1970 ACM paper instead of 12 rules of thumb.
>
> Forget it, Bob. He has a commercial interest in claiming that the
Relational Model is
> vague.

if I can recall, the 1970 paper is not formulated as mathematical axioms either. Or is it? Do you remember?

Codd accepts NULLs while Date disapproves. How can 'the relational model' be clear if there are differences like this?

Lee, of course, has a commercial interest in claiming that 'a/the relational model' is crystal clear. He tries to market FirstSQL on that basis.

"* FirstSQL/J Object/Relational DBMS "

By the way, FirstSQL probably is not Codd-12-relational? Why do you claim it to be an 'object/relational' database then? Is it 'Lee Fesperman -relational'?

> He has stubbornly refused to educate himself, clinging to 'thumbnail'
> descriptions of the relational model.

No, not at all. I looked at the 1970 paper 1.5 years ago.

> See Database Debunkings (www.dbdebunk.com) for a
> glaring example.

Well, that quote was taken from a discussion at comp.databases or .theory. I did not remember then that Codd had mentioned integrity constraints in his 1970 paper.

> --
> Lee Fesperman, FirstSQL, Inc. (http://www.firstsql.com)

Best regards,

Heikki Tuuri
Innobase Oy
http://www.innodb.com
Foreign keys, transactions, and row level locking for MySQL InnoDB Hot Backup - a hot backup tool for MySQL Received on Tue Aug 26 2003 - 00:39:49 CEST

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