Re: Relational Theory & the New Math

From: Marshall Spight <mspight_at_dnai.com>
Date: Fri, 15 Oct 2004 16:46:12 GMT
Message-ID: <o9Tbd.475744$8_6.422163@attbi_s04>

"Laconic2" <laconic2_at_comcast.net> wrote in message news:EaKdnRwvpojVK_LcRVn-hQ_at_comcast.com...

> I am, as you know, a relational enthusiast, if not a devotee. But for me,
> it's only one tools among many.

Agreed.

One really does need lists from time to time, although to the programmer who hasn't "gotten" relations yet, a lot more things seem ordered than actually are.

One also needs a really good way of creating user-defined types, and a good module system. This is one area where OO languages have really succeeded.

One also needs lambda, and map-filter-reduce, although if one has a good relational language, the map-filter-reduce part comes for free.

One probably also wants some kind of rule engine, or backtracking engine, or something, but this is an area I don't know much about.

Marshall Received on Fri Oct 15 2004 - 11:46:12 CDT