Re: Temporal database - no end date

paul c wrote:

> Well, I doubt if any persistent db system can model time thoroughly
> since it will itself be subject to time. Analogies about number
> representations are just red herrings. All a physical system can do is
> mimic some aspect of time in a way that is useful to some purpose. I
> gather that the book that uses "quanta" gave a respectable
> implementation theory for doing this. If somebody doesn't like that but
> can't say why very clearly, that's life, not Bob B's fault.

 Replacing 'time' with 'what the application does' and 'quanta' with 'disk files throughout the above paragraph, and we get:

"Well, I doubt if any persistent db system can model what the application does thoroughly since it will itself be subject to what the application does. Analogies about number representations are just red herrings. All a physical system can do is mimic some aspect of what the application does in a way that is useful to some purpose. I gather that the book that uses "disk files" gave a respectable implementation theory for doing this. If somebody doesn't like that but can't say why very clearly, that's life, not Bob B's fault."

 This paragraph, we all agree, is a patent absurdity. Data models are important because they constitute a well founded framework for organizing and reasoning about data. One data model is superior to another to the extent that it has more flexibility, and robustness.

 Many of you, it is clear to me, have abandonned even the pretence of critical reasoning: sacrificing it on the altar of a cult. Well, Date, Darwen, Fabian Pascal et al are really smart people who's pronouncements deserve to be treated with a robust skepticism - not fawning adoration. In my experience useful ideas are useful precisely because they withstand rough handling.

  Many of you, on the other hand, seem to be refusing to engage the ideas at all. Received on Sat Jan 20 2007 - 23:05:29 CET