Re: database systems and organizational intelligence
From: mAsterdam <mAsterdam_at_vrijdag.org>
Date: Mon, 31 May 2004 13:32:41 +0200
Message-ID: <40bb17d1$0$33919$e4fe514c_at_news.xs4all.nl>
>
> No! the computer is representing data in a physical device.
>
> Storing and retrieving are lose words because nothing is stored nor
> retrieved. Data can't be stored because it is not a physical object.
Date: Mon, 31 May 2004 13:32:41 +0200
Message-ID: <40bb17d1$0$33919$e4fe514c_at_news.xs4all.nl>
Alfredo Novoa wrote:
> x wrote:
>
>>You are storing and retrieving "data", but the computer is storing and >>retrieving "code" :-)
>
> No! the computer is representing data in a physical device.
>
> Storing and retrieving are lose words because nothing is stored nor
> retrieved. Data can't be stored because it is not a physical object.
Yep. I suspect this is a distinction easier to see for non-native english speakers, maybe because english nounifies verbs and verbifies nouns way to easily.
We can say we 'store data', suggesting that after that there must be some data stored somewhere. But the only way to see if there is stored data is to retrieve that data - keeping the suggestion intact.
> This is a terminology inherited from paper based files. Paper sheets
> are actually stored and retrieved from files and desks, but not data.
Received on Mon May 31 2004 - 13:32:41 CEST