Re: Content Based Addressing

David Cressey wrote:
> The first time I ever saw an index to a body of data (a file of flat
> records, to be specific), I thought it was a kludge. I figured this sort
> of thing would last a few years until somebody built a cheap, fast, and
> ample associative memory. Here it is, 30 years later, and indexes are
> still with us.

Some of this is due to the Tyranny of C. Programming languages have a strong impact on processor architectures, and C has had more impact than probably anything else ever. C is all about pointer arithmetic and direct manipulation of linear buffers. And C, as we know, represents the ultimate in *not* separating the physical and the logical. If anything, the C programmer's battle cry is a demand for more direct exposure of the physical layer.

> Anyways, I'm starting this thread with the idea of discussing content based
> addressing. Basically, content based addressing says, "I don't know where
> it is, but when you find it, this is what it's going to look like". This
> description is intentionally vague.
>
> I want it to cover search engines that invert some body of text, as well as
> indexes that permit keyed access to certain rows in a table.
>
> The whole idea of content based addressing seems to me to be such a powerful
> idea that it keeps popping up in IT all over the place. Of course, in
> c.d.t. the RDM is going to be the first thing most people think of when
> they ponder content based addressing.

My candidate for next-best-place for CBA: communications. Imagine a communication layer that used durable subscriptions with CBA. Communication channels could use the same type system as the relational engine, and in fact the two could be integrated, so you could, for example, subscribe to inserts into a given table.

It makes me drool just thinking about it.

> Anyways, I think that content based addressing is a large part of why so
> many people have used RDM and/or SQL to good advantage in making flexible
> use of data.

I Agree!

Marshall Received on Wed May 17 2006 - 04:09:39 CEST