Re: Announcing New Blog

> Database systems is an evolving environment.
> Date's pedagogy on the RM is not.
> It has been static for nigh on 30 years.

The thing is, pedagogy needs to connect with theory.

I don't see that relational theory has materially progressed in the last twenty years.

In a way, it's like the challenge of getting a Ph.D in Shakespearean literature. Doing a Ph.D requires having something new and novel to say about the area of study. As you approach 500 years since the death of the author, it gets increasingly difficult to find anything new.

I don't see that anything much new has come up lately that would cause Date's pedagogy to need to change. Every couple years I browse TODS and basically see nothing that seems of practical importance, and even less that extends the RM.

As far as I can see, vendors have generally been taking steps *back* from relational theory to add in one or another anti-relational extension. Not based on theory, but rather on it "seeming a neat idea" or it justifying billing for version upgrades...

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