Re: Nearest Common Ancestor Report (XDb1's $1000 Challenge)

> Who is older, John, Mary or Fido?
> How can XDb1 (or any other type-less database) answer the last
> question if the user has provided the following input:
>
> over-the-hill isa age.
> very-young isa age.
> 7 isa age.
> john is over-the-hill.
> mary is very-young.
> fido is 7.

Again, the example provided earlier was simple. 7 can be further classified as an integer (via 7 isa integer) thus allowing operations appropriate to the integer class (aka "data type" in RM).

> Most computers I have used will classify very-young as greater than
> over-the-hill and will refuse to compare either of these to 7.
> Like I said - there may be specific situations where a product such as
> XDb1 has it's use. But it's not (to quote the web site) "the future of
> databases" - not even remotely!

If I include human brains as computers (which they are), many of them will come to the correct answer. XDb1 is partially a feeble attempt to model and implement a db like that between our ears. Received on Tue May 18 2004 - 22:52:07 CEST