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

From: Hugo Kornelis <hugo_at_pe_NO_rFact.in_SPAM_fo>
Date: Sat, 22 May 2004 00:36:35 +0200
Message-ID: <n5vsa0po7v2dbn3s1t1hl3fomslfmfurpq_at_4ax.com>


On 20 May 2004 22:06:44 -0700, Neo wrote:

Hi Neo,

>> > For example, if the user names the first person 'john' and the dog
>> > also 'john', your current solution won't work.
>>
>> Indeed, it won't. And neither will XDb1. You obviously did not test
>> this before you wrote this. Or you are a flat out liar ...
>
>It does work. The steps you took to verify it were inappropriate. The
>easiest way is to use the populated db and rename fido to john.

This is really starting to get funny. You wrote:   "if the user names the first person 'john' and the dog also 'john'" Now please tell me why a user who wants to name a dog 'john' would first enter its name as 'fido' and then change the name later?

> To do
>this, navigate to node thing/dog/fido. Click fido twice with a small
>delay between clicks to enter edit mode. Change fido to john and press
>enter. The report is as before except occurrences of 'fido' are
>replaced with 'john'. In this case, printing each thing's class (ie
>'person/john', 'dog/john') would allow user to distinguish them.

(giggle) not exactly, Neo. I got the following when I tried it:

Common Ancestor Report for 'god'

ThingX	ThingY	CmnAnc	Dist
army	john	army	1
army	laptop1	army	2
army	john	army	2
army	mary	army	1
army	trinity	god	2
army	luke	god	3
john	laptop1	john	1
john	john	john	1
john	mary	army	2
john	trinity	god	3
john	luke	god	4
laptop1	john	john	2
laptop1	mary	mary	1
laptop1	trinity	trinity	2
laptop1	luke	trinity	3
john	mary	mary	1
john	trinity	trinity	2
john	luke	luke	1
mary	trinity	trinity	1
mary	luke	trinity	2
trinity	luke	trinity	1

Time elapsed: 16 msec

I especially like the line "john john john 1". Now THAT is the kind of data representation that a manager likes to base his decisions on, isn't it?

>The reason your steps did not work is because by modifying the script,
>you created a person named john who you then also classified as a dog.
>You never created a dog to rename.

Of course I didn't. I didn't want to rename a dog, I wanted to enter a dog named 'john'. Ar rather - you suggested me to try that:

(repeated quote)
>> > For example, if the user names the first person 'john' and the dog
>> > also 'john', (...)

(snip irrelevant stuff about XDb1 internals)

>> I ended up copying and pasting the script line by line,
>> but there's got to be a more efficient way, right?
>
>Sorry, but the ability to process multiple lines is not enabled in the
>release version currently.

Yet another reason to steer clear of this product for any serious use.

>> As I pointed out before
>> - how the data is stored internally is completely irrelevant.
>
>True, but the solution's genericness and level of data normalization
>is relevant because it can limit its scope. For instance the provided
>solution fails when two things have the same name.

  1. So does the XDb1 solution.
  2. It is completely irrelevant. Please check the subject of this discussion. You set a challenge. The rules for this challenge were outlined in this message:

http://groups.google.nl/groups?q=g:thl1201841589d&dq=&hl=nl&lr=&ie=UTF-8&selm=4b45d3ad.0405161027.742aa17d%40posting.google.com

Please indicate which part of that message (or of the one web page that this message provides a link to) explains the requirement that duplicate names should not be allowed on entry, but should be allowed by renaming existing objects at a later time.

I presume you can't. Therefore, I repeat my claim of the $1000 prize. Please transfer the money to my bank account: International Bank Account Number (IBAN) NL59 RABO 0118 3365 68 (bank information: BIC/SWIFT address RABONL2U). Best, Hugo

-- 

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Received on Sat May 22 2004 - 00:36:35 CEST

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