Re: A question for Mr. Celko

"Jan Hidders" <jan.hidders_at_REMOVETHIS.pandora.be> wrote in message news:pan.2004.07.18.23.52.44.285959_at_REMOVETHIS.pandora.be...
> On Sun, 18 Jul 2004 16:23:13 +0000, Marshall Spight wrote:
> >
> > I've been avoiding learning about relational calculi because algebras
> > are so much easier on my tiny brain. [...]
> >
> > Care to recommend some reading material?
>
> That all depends a bit on what you already know, your mathematical
> skills, the abstraction level you can handle, the problems you are trying
> to solve, et cetera. For starters, did you read the chapters on tuple and
> domain calculus in Date's introduction? And do you already know first
> order logic?

Hmmm. My mathematical skill is lame, if you're referring to things like calculus, which is what the math requirements for my degree mostly were. (*Why* not set theory?!) If you mean things like set theory, I've been doing a modest amount of reading in that area lately. Abstraction-wise, I seem to do pretty well, I guess; lambda calculus I can handle and parametric polymorphism isn't too hard. First order logic seems ... obvious. (Am I fooling myself?)

As to Date's books, I've read a bunch of them, including TTM and What Not How, but not, alas, the Introduction. I probably should have started with that, but the reading order was determined by availability in local bookstores. :-(

Current reading is Concepts, Techniques, and Models of Computer Programming by Van Roy; very nice. Next up is a second try at Types and Programming Languages by Pierce; that one's harder. All slow going because by the time the kids are put to bed, I'm getting sleepy.

Yesterday I found this awesome book on garbage collection at the Barnes and Nobel! Oh my GOD was it expensive but I bought it anyway; GC is so important.

Marshall Received on Mon Jul 19 2004 - 04:31:14 CEST