Re: MV Keys

Gene Wirchenko wrote:
> On 3 Mar 2006 10:17:56 -0800, "Marshall Spight"
> <marshall.spight_at_gmail.com> wrote:
>
> >Jon Heggland wrote:
> >>
> >> Anyway, a counterargument is that introducing lists implies more
> >> complexity, less simplicity, and no change in power---the users gets the
> >> additional burden of having to learn all the list operators, when they
> >> don't really have to.
> >
> >That's a decent argument, but I think in the final analysis it
> >doesn't hold up. Lists are really quite simple, so they don't
> >add much cognitive load. Indeed, those from outside the
> >RM world are already used to using lists for pretty much
> >everything already, whether appropriate or not. The
> >cost of having to learn all the list operators is prepaid,
> >and was pocket change to begin with.
>
> So those from outside the RM world are not using lists correctly,
> yet you say lists are simple and that people have already learned
> them?

If you have a list construct available and not a bag, lists will be used as bags. Similarly, if you have list attributes and no set attributes, lists will be used as sets too. I think that is what he meant. It isn't that people don't know how to use a list, but that so many attributes can be modeled with lists, that people are inclined to use them for anything that works. --dawn Received on Fri Mar 03 2006 - 16:22:11 CST