Re: Noninferential vs. inferential DBMS

From: x <x-false_at_yahoo.com>
Date: Fri, 14 May 2004 14:20:40 +0300
Message-ID: <40a4aabc@post.usenet.com>

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"Paul" <paul_at_test.com> wrote in message
news:o61pc.3223$wI4.331711_at_wards.force9.net...
> x wrote:
> >>A non-inferential database is one that you can add data to but you can't
> >>get ANYTHING out? i.e. you can infer nothing from it? So you can
INSERT,
> >>UPDATE or DELETE but not SELECT?
> >
> > No. ANYTHING is too much. Of course you can get SOMETHING out.
> >
> > in-fer-ence (in'fuhr uhns, -fruhns) n.
> > 3. Logic.
> > a. the process of deriving from assumed
> > premises either the strict logical
> > conclusion or one that is to some
> > degree probable.
> > b. a proposition reached by a process
> > of inference.

>

> OK so you're saying you can retrieve the propositions you put in, but
> you can't do any queries that would involve any of the relational
> operators like projection, joins etc?

>

> In other words, it's based on propositional logic but not predicate
> logic? So you can't use "for all" or "there exists"?

Well, propositional logic is logic and a DBMS could make inferences with them.

> For example, suppose you have an employee table, you could get out of it
> that "Fred Smith has empid=123, works in dept 10 and has a salary of
> 10,000". But you wouldn't be able to ask "Is there an employee called
> Fred Smith?

Inferential DBMS means there are some inferences carried out by the DBMS. So a non-inferential DBMS won't carry out any inferences.

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Received on Fri May 14 2004 - 06:20:40 CDT