Re: A real world example

erk wrote:
> Brian Selzer wrote:
> > Facts are facts about things. If things can change, then the facts about
> > them must also or must be replaced.
>
> I think the "thing-orientation" here gets in the way of thinking about
> facts as instances of predicates that we care about. When we talk about
> the database, it's the predicates that are primary, not the things they
> concern. A change in the database doesn't necessarily reflect a "thing
> changing", unless you collapse "thing" to mean predicate rather than
> some entity.

Very true. Originally Codd used the terms "roles and values" in the 1970 paper. Perhaps the commonm use of 'attributes and values' to describe a relation encourages the "thing-oriented" approach. Received on Thu Aug 17 2006 - 10:36:21 CDT