Re: The fable of DEMETRIUS, CONSTRAINTICUS, and AUTOMATICUS

"Kenneth Downs" <firstinit.lastname_at_lastnameplusfam.net> wrote in message news:4ivelc.ivc.ln_at_mercury.downsfam.net...

> I would contend that it is never appropriate to consider SQL code to be
> data, it simply is not.

Whether it IS code or not depends on the "Clinton Cliche": It depends on what the meaning of the word "IS" is.

Whether there is a homomorphism between the SQL code and a certain body of metadata is quite another matter.

Both you and Marshall have argued quite persuasively that SQL DDL is merely syntactic sugar for what can be expressed equally correctly and completely in meta data.

I would be amazed if this turned out to be possible for SQL DDL, but not possible for SQL DML. I would also be amazed if this turned out to be possible for SQL DDL and DML, but not possible for procedural code in PL/SQL, and/or Java. After all, you can write Lisp s-expressions that will correctly and completely mimic anything that is computable in Java or PL/SQL. And turning s-expressions into data is simple. The Lisp loader does it, before the program is turned over to the evaluator. (This is merely an existence proof. Don't try this at home) ;-) . Received on Sun Oct 24 2004 - 14:36:45 CDT