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

From: Nick Landsberg <hukolau_at_NOSPAM.att.net>
Date: Tue, 25 May 2004 02:56:45 GMT
Message-ID: <NBysc.25008$fF3.644095@bgtnsc05-news.ops.worldnet.att.net>

Neo wrote:

Apologies to both you and Hugo for being dense, but I have a few questions regarding the following:

>>How does this critter perform on a simple query which extracts just 
>>the record for "John Smith"...

>
>
> Comparisions haven't been made yet but it should fair well in some
> cases. For example the name "john smith" in essence has a reference to
> all things with that name even if it is a dog. In this case resolving
> to the named things doesn't require traversing persons or dogs.
>
> Below is an example of finding things based on intersections expressed
> via simple "relational expressions". Suppose user had entered the
> following data:
>
> color isa thing.
> black isa color.
> white isa color.
>
> person isa thing.
> john smith isa person.
> john smith is black.
>
> mary isa person.
> mary is white.
>
> bob isa person.
> bob is black.
> bob is white. (he is both black and white)
>
> dog isa thing.
> fido isa dog.
> fido is white.
>
> Following query finds all persons:
> (person)
>
> Following query finds a person named mary
> (person) mary
>
> Following query finds a person named john smith:
> (person) "john smith"

Aha ... This would extract the "record" which identifies "John Smith"? Including, name, rank, social security number, shoe size, and anything else stored along with the identifier? (Again, pardon, I am struggling to understand).

>
> Following query finds all persons who are black (john & bob):
> (person) (black)
>
> Following query finds all persons who are black and white (only bob):
> (person) (black) (white)
>
> Following query finds all things that are white (mary & bob & fido!):
> (white)
>
>
> Other examples are posted in recent posts in comp.database.object and
> at www.xdb1.com/Example/Ex005.asp

Sorry, I run a MAC at home and can't use the .exe file. The company frowns upon me loading stuff on to the corporate PC. Similarly, even if I could, it wouldn't run on the corporate "mainframe" (which is a SUN). See remarks I made to Hugo about the size of machine.

-- 
"It is impossible to make anything foolproof
because fools are so ingenious"
  - A. Bloch

Received on Mon May 24 2004 - 21:56:45 CDT