Re: In an RDBMS, what does "Data" mean?

From: Paul <paul_at_test.com>
Date: Sat, 05 Jun 2004 00:47:25 +0100
Message-ID: <ZR7wc.11426$NK4.1480800@stones.force9.net>

Mikito Harakiri wrote:

>>I still maintain that you can regard a database as a collection of
>>tuple-axioms, with the DBMS playing the part of logic. I'm not just
>>saying this is an analogy, I'm claiming it's a proper isomorphism.

>
> Seriously, they are not axioms.
>
> <quote from Mathworld>
> A proposition regarded as self-evidently true without proof. The word
> "axiom" is a slightly archaic synonym for postulate. Compare conjecture or
> hypothesis, both of which connote apparently true but not self-evident
> statements.
> </quote from Mathworld>

Well in our database world we take tuples such as <name='Hrundi V. Bakshi', age=35> as self-evident truths.

> The tuples are the facts that user gathered outside of math realm -- in the
> physical world.

But we can have a worldview that just has logic and tuples, where the real world is beyond our horizons. For the purposes of deciding whether a structure is axioms and logic, the real world is irrelevant. And tuples don't have to be gathered from facts in the physical world - we could have a database with facts from a fantasy world.

Paul. Received on Fri Jun 04 2004 - 18:47:25 CDT