Re: c.d.theory glossary (repost)

mAsterdam <mAsterdam_at_vrijdag.org> wrote:

>Eric Kaun wrote:
>
>...
>> Ugh, can't find it - gone from my newsgroups.
>
>--------------- Do I contradict myself?
>Glossary 0.0.2: Very well then I contradict myself;
>may 5, 2004 I am large, I contain multitudes.
>--------------- -- Walt Whitman
>
>Preamble:
>---------------
>This glossary seeks to limit lengthy misunderstandings in
>comp.database.theory.

     It would help if it were more plainly written. I have been using databases for quite a while, but I would like to learn more theory. Some of the definitions here are rather obtuse. Examples follow:

[snip]

>[Class]
>A class is what provides a name and a place for
>the abstract behavior of a set of objects
>said to belong to the class. (Larry Wall, Apocalypse 12)

    I am glad that I already know what a class is.

[snip]

>[Domain]
>Given a relation R, a domain is a set Sn such that for each tuple (A1,
>A2, ...An, ...Am) in R, An is an element of Sn.

     Huh?

[snip]

>[NULL]
>The insanity bit. No! The humility marker.
>mu: The absence of an answer to a question which requires an answer.

     Cute, but not of much practical help.

[snip]

>[Relation]
>A relation is a subset of the set of ordered tuples (A1, A2, ... Am)
>formed by the Cartesian cross-product of sets S1 x ... x Sm where each
>An is an element of Sn.

     Huh?

[snip]

Sincerely,

Gene Wirchenko

Computerese Irregular Verb Conjugation:

     I have preferences.
     You have biases.
     He/She has prejudices.