Re: How to model searchable properties of an entity
Date: Fri, 20 Aug 2004 13:53:40 +0200
Message-ID: <4125e648$0$42417$e4fe514c_at_news.xs4all.nl>
Tony wrote:
> Laconic2 wrote:
>> The problem I have with "notes" is that "notes" are not data.
>> Invariably, someone down the road asks, "why can't you just
>> search the notes field?"
>> If you make the mistake of trying to explain the difference
>> between parsing natural language and scanning structured
>> data, you are apt to be dismissed as a geek that
>> doesn't understand people very well.
>
> Agreed. And much as it pains me to say it, maybe XML could
> have a part to play here? But that's another slippery slope
> similar to EAV...
Where does it hurt? A guess: the ordered, hierarchical nature
of (most or all? - hmm... ) document structures. While that
maps beautifully with notions of containment (MV) and
encapsulation (OO), it ruins m:n, and hinders contained
objects ever becoming anything more than just that:
contained objects, i.e. no existence outside the container.
Auch!