Re: Implementation of boolean types.
Date: 18 Jul 2005 23:29:11 -0700
Message-ID: <1121754551.773129.253910_at_g49g2000cwa.googlegroups.com>
Drago Ganic wrote:
>
> > Symbolic programming is a good solution for NULL values....
> should be
> Symbolic programming is a good solution for UNKNOWN values ...
I figured that was what you meant.
However, I have to say, I question whether unknown values is really the right problem to be working on. I think it it's. I think the better, easier approach is to model the empty set, because it is application-independent, and also to have a special-values mechanism, because sometimes you need them anyway, and special values handle both null and unknown however you want them to. You can also avoid introducing 3VL or 4VL into your system.
I *do* think the idea of symbolic computation or algebraic formulas or whatever you call it is quite interesting, but I'm not sure how much value it has towards the field of *data management* per se.
Marshall Received on Tue Jul 19 2005 - 08:29:11 CEST