Re: It don't mean a thing ...

On Wed, 02 Jun 2004 00:52:21 +0200 in comp.databases.theory, mAsterdam <mAsterdam_at_vrijdag.org> wrote:

>Brian Inglis wrote:
>
>> mAsterdam wrote:
>>><quote>
>>> Data on its own has no meaning, only
>>> when interpreted by some kind of data
>>> processing system does it take on
>>> meaning and become information.
>>></quote>
>>
>>
>> ISTM it's just the very old statement that a string of bits or bytes
>> by itself has no semantic content, but it gains semantics when it is
>> interpreted as a type: characters, an integer, or an FP number.
>
>(Type as 'valid set of values' - please correct me
>if you use another definition) The only semantics
>it gains by being interpreted as a type is
>being member of a set.
Type or Class also allowing certain operations.

>> In a database context, data gains additional meaning when it is stored
>> in a column of a table, because it not only gains a type, it then also
>> expresses a fact about some entity.
>
><duck reason="anti entity inquisition"> Yep. </duck>
Object or Instance of ...

>> IMHO given some common knowledge about an application domain, and a
>> data model for that application domain, the only meaning that can not
>> be derived is the current significance of that data to the
>> organization, and the (complex, correlated, current ;^>) rules that
>> organization applies to the data.
>
>Do you think the definition at wikipedia is flawed? I guess that would
>also be a possible outcome of this thread, having read the
>replies up to now.

If the wiki definition said untyped or something similar, I'd agree with the definition, but as it stands, it's too unspecific. It really depends what you mean by data, and at what level: data has no meaning at the machine bits, bytes, words level; data gains meaning at higher levels of abstraction, as it gains tighter and tighter definitions of type.

-- 
Thanks. Take care, Brian Inglis 	Calgary, Alberta, Canada

Brian.Inglis_at_CSi.com 	(Brian dot Inglis at SystematicSw dot ab dot ca)
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