Re: foundations of relational theory?

"Bob Badour" <bbadour_at_golden.net> wrote in message news:<xUidndtKYp-wtAmiU-KYhQ_at_golden.net>...
> "Paul Vernon" <paul.vernon_at_ukk.ibmm.comm> wrote in message
> news:bn15ap$g1a$1_at_gazette.almaden.ibm.com...
> > "Dawn M. Wolthuis" <dwolt_at_iserv.net> wrote in message
> > news:6db906b2.0310191644.13b47642_at_posting.google.com...
> > [snip]
> > > While this is not an academic statement of why PICK works nicely, it
> > > might give some hints on why folks who have put their dollars into the
> > > SQL-based RDBMS world can become born-again when they see the
> > > difference in dollars needed for a comparable PICK system.
> >
> > Mind if I take it as an academic statement?, and use it to give hints at
> why
> > an MV system will be less useful than a relational system everything else
> > being equal.
> >
> > > Again, it is not that PICK is flawless (by any stretch), but as a
> > > basis for moving forward, I'd sure rather start with this big bang for
> > > the buck implementation than any SQL-based RDBMS I've seen. And, yes,
> > > I know this is a theory forum and not necessarily for opinions based
> > > on practice, so I'll go back to the claim, even though not fleshed
> > > out, that persisting data based on language -- such as modeling entire
> > > propositions together rather than piecing them apart to the extent
> > > done in an RDBMS -- makes sense because we are not trying to persist
> > > mathematical relations ultimately -- we are trying to persist
> > > propositions.
> >
> > Guess what, "trying to persit propostions" is *exactly* what the
> relational
> > model is all about. A tuple (row) is a fact - a proposition.
> >
> > > For example, "Jane Doe has three kids -- John, George, & Paul -- and
> > > also three cars -- a 1967 Mustang Fastback and a 1968 VW Bug, but the
> > > car she usually drives is her other car -- a 2002 Ford Thunderbird".
> > > A lousy sentence, but easy to image on a form. This sentence/form is
> > > about a single person -- Jane Doe
> >
> > Any why, prey, is that sentence not also about the person John (or George
> or
> > Paul)? Or equally it is not about 2002 Ford Thunderbirds?
>
> You forgot to ask Dawn for the queries:
> Who has kids John and Paul?
> Who has a kid whose name contains John and Paul?

What? Have you read "See Jane Run" Bob? Try it. Received on Tue Oct 21 2003 - 08:08:40 CEST