Re: does a table always need a PK?
Date: 5 Sep 2003 03:00:48 -0700
Message-ID: <bcb8c360.0309050200.67fc3ed0_at_posting.google.com>
"Paul Vernon" <paul.vernon_at_ukk.ibmm.comm> wrote in message news:<bj2mt3$1174$1_at_gazette.almaden.ibm.com>...
Hi Paul,
> I doubt that lambda calculus is the correct level of abstraction here. Concepts such
> as risk, financial cost etc don't mean much at that level. Not everything can be
> understood at the same level of abstraction.
>
I think we kind-of in agreement on this; Heikki was asking for a
formal, mathematical specification of what a database *management
system* was, and I was arguing that while a formal specification of
such things as concurrency (which aren't part of the relational model)
could be achieved, there were a whole host of other issues that
weren't really amenable to that sort of analysis. Maybe not terribly
well, I'll grant you... :)
- Tony