Re: Ideas for World Hierarchy Example

From: Bob Badour <bbadour_at_pei.sympatico.ca>
Date: Sat, 13 Jan 2007 13:31:55 GMT
Message-ID: <fb5qh.424$1x.5287_at_ursa-nb00s0.nbnet.nb.ca>


Marshall wrote:

> On Jan 12, 10:32 am, "dawn" <dawnwolth..._at_gmail.com> wrote:
> 

>>Marshall wrote:
>>
>>
>>>Consider some other approach to data management, or
>>>even general computation. What are its primitive operators?
>>>Is the set provably minimal, or is there some redundancy?
>>>What algebraic properties do they have? What useful theorems
>>>can we derive from these properties? What is the computational
>>>power? It is the same as first order logic, untyped lambda
>>>calculus, what? What is the computational power of the type
>>>system? What interesting theorems can it prove about
>>>source code? What is the concurrency model? How does it
>>>compare to shared-state concurrency, or transaction isolation,
>>>or message passing concurrency? What is the constraint
>>>system like? How does it integrate with the type system?
>>>What constraints can be proven statically?
>>
>>>These questions are interesting.
>>
>>The questions I really find interesting are: How long did it take to
>>write that software application? How many developers were required?
>>How much experience did developers need and how much training? How
>>long does it take to maintain the software in various ways? How long
>>does it take to write another using and extending the same database?
>>How much additional time does it take to make the software sing for the
>>end-user compared to what is easiest to do that works, but isn't great?
>
> How are those questions working out for you? Have they been productive?

I don't know why she would find those questions interesting. After all, the answers are so obvious: Compared to any other logical data model, using relations it will take much less time with far fewer developers, no training beyond basic education, much less time to maintain, much less time to write another or extend the same database, and almost no time to make the sofware sing for the end user. Since the relational model is the easiest, what works and is great, I don't particularly understand her last question, though. Received on Sat Jan 13 2007 - 14:31:55 CET

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