Re: A good book

Bob Badour <bbadour_at_pei.sympatico.ca> wrote:
> If you want a concise statement of the theoretical understanding, I gave
> it above. I repeat it here:
>
> Relational calculus = 1st order predicate calculus

Unfortunately, that says nothing about database systems, unless you assume the connection between relational calculus and first-order predicate calculus. Just to be sure, I consulted pp. 192-220 of Robert Stoll's book Set Theory and Logic, which is a fairly sketchy account of first order predicate calculus, but has the advantage that it happened to be sitting on the bookshelf next to me. Of course I don't come across the word "database" once. I also don't find anything that appears immediately relevant to organizing systems of information storage and retrieval. In fact, every example I see in the book pertains to infinite relations, making it seem doubtful that the author was all that interested in databases at all.

> If you want further elaboration of the theoretical foundation, I suggest
> you start with Codd's 1970 paper.

I will, actually, read Codd's paper. I'm beginning to wonder, though, if you are intentionally missing the point of what I'm asking; and if so, if there's a point you're trying to make by so doing. As far as I can tell, this shouldn't be a really difficult request.

-- 
Chris Smith - Lead Software Developer / Technical Trainer
MindIQ Corporation