Re: All hail Neo!

From: Bob Badour <bbadour_at_pei.sympatico.ca>
Date: Mon, 01 May 2006 04:11:14 GMT
Message-ID: <CTf5g.1219$A26.33891@ursa-nb00s0.nbnet.nb.ca>

Marshall Spight wrote:

> Bob Badour wrote:
>

>>Marshall Spight wrote:
>>
>>
>>>What would you use instead? The decent tools that I'm aware
>>>of are empty sets and tagged unions.
>>
>>And full normalization. Don't forget full normalization, which is always
>>applicable whenever empty sets apply, and which I consider a better
>>solution than empty sets.
>>
>>In some cases, I would use the type system to create special types akin
>>to tagged unions.
>>
>>
>>>You can get whatever
>>>semantics you want from tagged unions and functions over
>>>same. The behavior of fold (or aggregates) over incomplete
>>>sets is well-defined; the functional programming crown has
>>>beat fold to death. I don't see any reason for the system
>>>to supply an UNKNOWN special value out of the box, but
>>>as I say you can code one up if you want it.
>>
>>Yes, that's exactly my point. I don't want a dbms to incorporate some
>>inconsistent and problematic silver bullet. If I want my types to have
>>an unknown value, I will create them that way. The type system will
>>enforce consistency while the dbms continues to use binary logic.

>
>
> Plain text is notorious poor for conveying the presence or the
> absence of irony. So I want to explicitly tag the following
> paragraph as non-ironic:
>
> I have changed my mind on this topic. I now agree with you
> that the empty-set solution is generally a poor one.
>
>
>

>>Self reports are useless or worse than useless. I don't know where you
>>get your ideas regarding HCI, but it sounds more like you got them from
>>a book on UML than anything from the HCI community.

>
>
> Bob,
>
> Lately, and over the years both, you have called me all manner
> of names, and linked me directly or indirectly with all manner
> of societal ills, such as anti-empiricism, a weak European
> response to Nazism and Islamic Fascism, 7th century pedophilia,
> and homeopathy. But I say to you sir, that you have crossed a line,
> yes, *crossed a line* I say, when you mention me at the
> same time as you mention UML.

Uh oh! [Runs. Hides.] Received on Sun Apr 30 2006 - 23:11:14 CDT