Re: All hail Bob!

Bob Badour wrote:
> Jay Dee wrote:
>
> > One day, while perusing
> >
> > Newsgroup: comp.databases.theory
> >
> > I came across:
> >
> > Subject: Entity Overlap and Relationships
> >
> >
> > The soon-forthcoming presumption that the evasive general
> > solution might involve a "trigger" which maintained a
> > "relationship entry" confirmed what I suspected may have
> > caused the poster to turn to the newsgroups with such a trivial
> > problem: "Too many tools, not enough knowledge."
> >
> > The first reply was spot-on advice. And line 3 contains a bit
> > of prophecy that, once you watch this newsgroup for a while,
> > really isn't all that prescient.
> >
> > From: BB
> >
> > 1 With all due respect, the answers to your questions
> > 2 will depend on the myriad requirements you have not
> > 3 mentioned. Anyone who pretends to have answers is a crank.
> >
> > The OP politely thanked BB for his response, ignored it,
> > and pressed on with more magic dust: GUIDs!
> >
> > *sotto voce* Do you know how many problems GUIDs have
> > solved? Here's a clue: the value's less than one.
> >
> > Another optimistic contributor tried to get the original poster
> > back on track. Without sounding dogmatic, and quietly restating
> > the fact that too many requirements are still unstated, JH
> > suggested a strategy for discovering a solution.
> >
> > From: JH
> >
> > 1 You first of course need to establish whether that
> > 2 actually correctly models the situation. For example, is
> > 3 there really such a concept of *the* address of an entity
> > 4 (or *the* set of addresses) or could this depend upon
> > 5 the context (working address, billing address, shipping
> > 6 address, private address, et cetera). After you've
> > 7 established this you then have to think about what is
> > 8 the more efficient option. What are the typical queries
> > 9 that will be asked. What integrity constraints can the
> > 10 DBMS maintain and do you want them maintained? All these
> > 11 things might might play a role in deciding what is the
> > 12 best option, and I probably forgot a few.
> >
> > Words like "first" and "after" have well-known meanings.
>
> What I don't understand is: Why isn't this topic called "All hail Jan!"?

I often feel like I'm getting a free education from Jan's posts. Long may it last. If I manage to catch him at a conference I will buy him a pint. Received on Fri Apr 21 2006 - 19:11:30 CEST