Re: The naive test for equality
Date: Wed, 10 Aug 2005 20:52:06 +0100
Message-ID: <42fa5aeb$0$1215$ed2619ec_at_ptn-nntp-reader01.plus.net>
vc wrote:
> " The word "symbols" refers not only to the symbols used to exchange
> data between people and computers, but also to each of the data items
> inside the computer "
>
> To rephrase, you defined the word "symbol" as:
>
> 1. something used for human consumption, presumably a string of
> characters on paper used to name the thing humans work with ;
> 2. internal implementation of the apparently same things the computer
> works with ;
>
> Now, you are giving another, even vaguer definition of "symbol",
> namely, as "numbers managed by a computer". So, which one out of
> three is it to be ?
I think the word "symbol" has a very well-known English language meaning. We're talking here very informally; this isn't a mathematical journal so I don't think formal logical definitions are necessary here.
> What's interesting, whilst talking about symbols, representations and
> such, you've forgot about the real thing, the value, which is of
> primary interest for modelling, with the value's name and
> implementation being important but secondary considerations.
We're not talking about modelling here though; isn't the whole point of the thread about physical implementation of equality in a DBMS?
Paul. Received on Wed Aug 10 2005 - 21:52:06 CEST