Re: c.d.theory glossary 0.0.4 [ACID, open/closed universe]

Laconic2 wrote:

> I'd like to have the following 3 items discussed for possible inclusion in
> the glossary.
>
> ACID: An acronym for "Atomic", "Consistent", "Isolated" and "Durable".
>
> A well formed transaction against a database is said to have all four of
> these properties.

I'ld suggest this one is for the FAQ: Q: What's ACID? A:...

I did not see any ongoing misunderstandings around ACID - which is what the glossary is for.

> OPEN UNIVERSE: One possible view of the relationship between the data in a
> database and the subject matter thus described (See CLOSED UNIVERSE).
>
> In the OPEN UNIVERSE, there are certain facts which are true in the real
> world, and could be asserted in the database, but are not. Thus a search
> for a fact in a database that comes up empty does not assert that the fact
> is false in the real world.
>
> CLOSED UNIVERSE: One possible view of the relationship between the data in
> a database and the subject matter thus described (See OPEN UNIVERSE).
>
> In the CLOSED UNIVERSE, a database that is capable of storing a certain
> fact about the real world, but has no such fact stored, is implicitly
> denying the truth of that fact.

This would be more glossarish stuff
(hmm... I dont'know how to say that correctly in english, but you'll understand, no doubt).

Several times I had the impression that one person had another look at things w.r.t. to the closed world assumption than the other - but I can't remember one of them specifically. Received on Thu Sep 30 2004 - 21:46:16 CEST