Re: MV Keys

From: Marshall Spight <marshall.spight_at_gmail.com>
Date: 3 Mar 2006 15:50:05 -0800
Message-ID: <1141429805.765408.222910@z34g2000cwc.googlegroups.com>

dawn wrote:

> Now, if we want to address the needs of a user, do we write the
> simplest software possible even if that affects the usability? Or are
> we are willing to assume some complexity in the software in order to
> make the product simpler or more useful for the user? Similarly with
> our DBMS tools. If we were to take a design-for-usability approach to
> developing a DBMS, would the interface be SQL? Would we require the
> user to manage their own list processing, etc? I would think not.

Exactly. Minimalness is not an absolute goal. If it was, the best design for including the boolean algebra in a language would be to have only the one operator: NAND. This is sufficient, and adding more operators doesn't add any new capability, so it's minimal as well.

Instead, we include AND, OR, NOT and sometimes XOR. Why? It's more convenient that way.

Marshall Received on Fri Mar 03 2006 - 17:50:05 CST