Re: Storing data and code in a Db with LISP-like interface

JOG wrote:
> ...
> RDBMS on the other hand take the pragmatic view of being a tool for the
> user to extract 'meaning' from. Its up to us to decide what the
> relationship in a table 'means' - in fact this is the only way of doing
> it, as we are the only ones who can apply appropriate contextual
> information. That's why RDBMS, and systems with the same outlook, work
> in the field, while things like CYC and the Berners-Lee's Semantic Web
> do not.
> ...

I think so too, although implementers often take pragmatism as license to do all kinds of crazy things. The hard trick for an RDBMS is to preserve the 'extracted meaning' without knowing what the meaning is! This seems to require an agreed conceptual context. If one agrees with that then I think one must expect the boilerplate that comes with a product to say what the context is. Just saying 'relational' isn't enough because we know there isn't general agreement on what that means (whether this is due to general stupidity doesn't matter).

pc Received on Thu Mar 30 2006 - 19:00:26 CEST