Re: Argument for 1NF by counter-example

"robert" <gnuoytr_at_rcn.com> wrote in message news:da3c2186.0410240956.76e4a5d1_at_posting.google.com...
> "Dawn M. Wolthuis" <dwolt_at_tincat-group.comREMOVE> wrote in message
news:<clf2ij$64q$1_at_news.netins.net>...
> <snip>
> > Once XQuery includes update capabilities will that be the language on
which
> > to hang our collective hat? Right now I'd give it at least a 70%
chance.
> > That doesn't mean that SQL will go away (any more tthan COBOL has) but
that
> > new database implementations will use more flexible structures with an
> > XQuery language, perhaps? Just thinking outloud. --dawn
>
> if you can refute say, Pascal's, objections to XQuery (lots of other
> thoughtful people have published on the futility of XML/XQuery, so you're
> free to pick another); then i'll listen to this drivel.

I definitely disagree with Pascal and others on the matter, although there are some points with which I agree. XML is only a format for data -- not brain surgery. Being against it is like being against comma-delimited text. XQuery is a dog-ugly (from my perspective) format with which XML can be queried. However, XML and XQuery can help get a job done that is not as handily done by other means and it has helped with data exchange and determining standards for such. What you get with XQuery is a language that can do what SQL cannot if I am understanding it correctly. I have not used XQuery in any production application and have only played with it for less than four hours time.

My impression is that XQuery permits me to look at data as sets and as di-graphs. This gives me more ease of use than if only thinking in terms of sets. For example, I don't have to think of joining a table to itself in order to get the names of the (human) children of parents, but can navigate as if clicking on a parent's name and getting their childrens' names. You can, therefore, search for for a particular node and, once there, gather all related data values. Can the same data be retrieved using SQL(-92) if the XML document is in (old style) 1NF? Sure, but it isn't as intuitive to the average person nor as easy. If you give me a set-based tool then I have to think in sets, but if you give me tools that permit me to think in sets or di-graphs, so much the better. I'm sure I have not stated this to your satisfaction (yet?).

>
> BobTheDataBaseBoy

You define yourself very narrowly, Bob...Boy. Cheers! --dawn Received on Mon Oct 25 2004 - 04:55:20 CEST