Re: Are there terms for these?
Date: 24 Aug 2005 22:42:43 -0700
Message-ID: <1124948563.371765.170140_at_g44g2000cwa.googlegroups.com>
Kenneth Downs wrote:
> Marshall Spight wrote:
>
> > Kenneth Downs wrote:
> >> Given two tables that are not UNION compatible, it seems there are ways
> >> to UNION them anyway.
> >>
> >> Method 1, Intersect their headers. The resulting header is used to
> >> project
> >> both tables and now those projections are union compatible. What would
> >> this be called?
> >
> > We've been discussing this a lot. There was even a thead I started
> > about
> > a month ago called (IIRC) What would this operator be called?
>
> This is scary, how did I miss it?
Here it is:
"What to call this operator?"
http://groups.google.com/group/comp.databases.theory/browse_thread/thread/7a855309c23c73eb/1aad918848dd35fd
> > Since then, I've been going with "inner union" or "generalized union".
>
> What's weird is that normally somebody jumps in and points out that these
> ideas were first worked out in Sanskrit thousands of years ago and we
> should RTFM. How can it be that no terms exist and you are making them
> just now?
> >> Method 2, Union their headers. The resulting header is used to UNION
> >> both tables, providing NULL or empty values where a column exists in one
> >> but not
> >> the other. What would this be called, a FULL OUTER UNION (ha ha)?
> >
> > I'm calling it "outer union."
>
> I suppose there really would be a LEFT OUTER UNION and a RIGHT OUTER UNION,
> though. Left would be all columns from table 1 plus common columns 1 and
> 2, or:
>
> (L n R) U L (that 'n' is supposed to be intersection)
>
> and RIGHT OUTER UNION would be all columns from right plus common columns,
> or:
>
> (L n R) U L
I'm not so happy with the idea of asymmetric operators lately. They seem like a sign of bad design.
Anyway, read the thread and the Tropashko paper. It just might
blow your mind; it blew mine.
Marshall