Re: Database vs. DBMS

"Marshall Spight" <mspight_at_dnai.com> wrote:

[snip]

>But I'm not talking about computer-computer communication, or
>even human-computer communication; I'm talking about human-human
>communication. And I completely reject the idea that we should
>let the needs of human-computer communication shape our
>human-human communication; as someone whose metaphors
>flow like the waters of the Mississippi, I would not be happy
>in such a narrow confine. I am a poet, not a boxed Intel CPU!
>
>If you hear the phrase "a hired hand" or "a hired gun" do you
>think hands and guns? If you hear "the Whitehouse announced
>today that taxes would be adjusted for the next year" do you
>think it's the actual house doing the announcing? Do you have
>to stop and figure out which sense is meant? I'm guessing not.

     No, we *normally* would not. You have selected cases of idiomatic usage where it is fairly obvious.

>The issue here is how *humans* talk. In fact, I'm going to go out
>on a limb and assert that calling a dbms a "database" is simply
>metonymy and therefore precisely within the bounds of
>proper usage. It's every bit as straightforward and *correct*
>as the "hired gun."

     Most of the time. And it is fine until it is not. Then, it gets nasty. Unfortunately, those who use "database" for "DBMS" and like errors tend not to check their language for errors. When I catch an error, I have to wonder if it is the only one or if there are more. All too often, there are more.

     In a casual conversation, it is rarely a big deal. When it is a project that I will be putting many hours of work into, it can be critical.

>You All Know What It Means Anyway.

     Maybe. I can correct for a cetain amount, but I have been confused by incorrect usage before. When I realise that something does not fit, I then have to debug the conversation. It is a waste of time.

Sincerelyk,

Gene Wirchenko

Computerese Irregular Verb Conjugation:

     I have preferences.
     You have biases.
     He/She has prejudices.