"Bob Badour" <bbadour_at_golden.net> wrote in message
news:KPCdnXSXz6uiSWGiRVn-sA_at_golden.net...
> "Adrian Kubala" <adrian_at_sixfingeredman.net> wrote in message
> news:slrnbvm9t1.b6u.adrian_at_sixfingeredman.net...
> > mountain man <hobbit_at_southern_seaweed.com.op> schrieb:
> > > "Adrian Kubala" <adrian_at_sixfingeredman.net> wrote in message
> > > news:slrnbve5k2.ta3.adrian_at_sixfingeredman.net...
> > >> mountain man <hobbit_at_southern_seaweed.com.op> schrieb:
> > >> > Do primitive databases exist in nature in some form? If so, in
what
> > >> > form(s)?
> > >>
> > >> Unless you're talking about the relational model in particular, I
think
> > >> that whether something is a database or not is purely subjective --
> > > There are no general distinguishing features of databases by which
> > > they might be discerned?
> >
> > I don't believe that databasese have any general distinguishing features
> > in and of themselves -- calling something a database describes how it
> > functions in a context.
>
> Calling something a database asserts it comprises a set of facts. The
> context is irrelevant.
>
Does it also assert that it is somewhere or might it be nowhere? Sets are
mathematical constructs that follow certain rules -- they need not be
instantiated. Is that also the case with a database? I don't think so.
--dawn
Received on Wed Jan 07 2004 - 22:32:50 CST
