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

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"Alfredo Novoa" <alfredo_at_ncs.es> wrote in message news:40d4ea3f.9273674_at_news.wanadoo.es...

>
> For instance it is possible to prove this:
> a minus (a minus b) = a intersect b

Only if "a minus (a minus b) = a intersect b" is in first order language :-)

> I am not seeing that as profound or trivial. Godel proved that we can
> prove all first order language statements, that's all.

So if we cannot prove it, it is not a statement in first order language :-)

> >Now it's meaningless to ask whether our new predicate is true or not.
> It is always meaningless to ask whether a predicate is true or not :)
>
> What are true or not are the propositions.

And even the propositions can be true or not :-)

> >What we want to know is whether any question we ask in semantic terms
> >can be answered syntactically. For example the question 'Does Alan like
> >rice pudding?'.
>
> var Likes relation { a char, b char };
>
> Likes := relation {
> tuple { a 'Alan', b 'Rice Pudding' }
> };
>
> if tuple { a 'Alan' } in (Likes where b = 'Rice Pudding') { a } then
> ...

Additionally we want to know what questions can be asked. And more importantly what propositions can be "stored". :-)

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