Re: pro- foreign key propaganda?
Date: Thu, 22 May 2008 16:54:53 GMT
Message-ID: <xzhZj.286510$pM4.214920_at_pd7urf1no>
Bob Badour wrote:
...
> bullshit." ? I am not entirely sure I understand what you mean when you
> use the word mysticism.
The mystics here are the people who confuse a system with the reality
that the system only mimics imperfectly, the system being at most a mere
metaphor, for example pretending that an algebraic structure somehow
embodies actual 'entities' or thinking that there is actually a
relational operator called 'update', when Codd was obviously using the
word 'update' only as a way to sound familiar to his audience.
They are a subset of the masses who cannot make change without a
computer. I remember when slide-rules were not allowed at some exams,
today I meet people in the mechanical field who cannot even operate a
calculator! That's part of the new reality in the modern semi-literate
western societies, not to mention those who confuse oligarchy for democracy!
Received on Thu May 22 2008 - 18:54:53 CEST