Re: A Normalization Question

> event name subject verb object
> ------------------------------------------
> thingA john takes final
> thingB john receives 95
> thingC thingA causes thingB

How would you implement this, taking into account normalization and need to handle multiple persons named john? Would it be similar to below and if so, how would one handle the "?"s

T_Thing
ID Name
1 john
2 take
3 final
4 recieve
5 95

T_SVO

Subject  Verb        Object
->john   ->take     ->final
->john   ->receive  ->95
?        ->cause    ?

Unlike RM, where values of a column can only reference tuples of a single relation determined at design time, in XDb2/TM, any thing can reference anything in the entire db at run time.

> > Where/how would one store the following:
> > ((john take final) cause (john receive 95)) VerbX ObjectY.
>
> (I have no idea what VerbX and ObjectY mean here.)

VerbX and ObjectY are variables for anything that act as verb and object in T_SVO, for example:
((john take final) cause (john receive 95)) cause (john win corvette)

> Are you aware of the term "referential transparency"?

No.

> Do you really believe that 2 + 2 and let x = 2 in x + x
> *denote* different things?

My scope is limited to things represented within the context of a db. Please show how the above things are represented in a db and identify the things to be compared. Received on Fri Jul 23 2004 - 21:44:49 CEST