Re: Examples of SQL anomalies?
Date: Thu, 10 Jul 2008 10:06:54 -0300
Message-ID: <48760971$0$4026$9a566e8b_at_news.aliant.net>
David Cressey wrote:
> "Brian Selzer" <brian_at_selzer-software.com> wrote in message
> news:whadk.31863$ZE5.6401_at_nlpi061.nbdc.sbc.com...
>
>>"David Cressey" <cressey73_at_verizon.net> wrote in message
>>news:oe9dk.1109$Ae3.832_at_trnddc05...
>>
>>>"Marshall" <marshall.spight_at_gmail.com> wrote in message
>>>news:19040b82-0130-479e-ab80-dc1f1597ac02_at_56g2000hsm.googlegroups.com...
>>>
>>>>On Jul 7, 1:21 pm, JOG <j..._at_cs.nott.ac.uk> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>>On Jul 5, 1:09 pm, "David Cressey" <cresse..._at_verizon.net> wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>>"Marshall" <marshall.spi..._at_gmail.com> wrote in message
>>>>>
>>news:6ad51b62-e66a-4daa-b21c-c361fd6b22f8_at_8g2000hse.googlegroups.com...
>>
>>>>>>>What can be meaningfully asked is determined by the schema.
>>>>>
>>>>>>>If the schema specifies that the weight attribute is nullable,
>>>>>>>then the question of how much a shipment weighs in total
>>>>>>>is a question that cannot be asked.
>>>>>
>>>>>>>Marshall
>>>>>
>>>>>>Bingo!
>>>>>
>>>>>However, one /can/ validly ask "please give me the minimum the
>>>>>shipment weighs" and this may still be very useful.
>>>>
>>>>Well, that's assuming that all the shipments have a positive
>>>>weight. What if we might ship helium baloons? Then you
>>>>can't set the minimum.
>>>>
>>>>OK I was just having some fun there.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>>This is of course
>>>>>not a defence of null markers (obviously not. its me), but rather just
>>>>>a precaution against ruling out all questions of irregular data in
>>>>>blanket fashion. Our aim should be to provide frameworks that allows
>>>>>us to ask these questions with syntactic correctness /and/ as
>>>>>parsimoniously as possible.
>>>>
>>>>Sure.
>>>>
>>>>My idea of the phrasing of the sum() over a nullable weight
>>>>is "what is the sum of the weights of the items in the shipment
>>>>for which the weight has been entered into the db?"
>>>>
>>>
>>>That is, IIUYC , the sum of all the wieghts, as far as the db knows them,
>>>right?
>>>
>>>This amounts to the "open world assumption" with regard to weights of items.
>>>
>>>If one is going to adopt a "closed world assumption" with regard to weights
>>>of entered items, then it would seem to me that the weights column would
>>>have to be declared not nullable. Meaning that, if an item is entered nto
>>>a row, the weight column may not be left null.
>>>
>>>In the case of not nullable columns, this entire subthread is moot.
>>>
>>>Brian seems to be willing to bounce back and forth between OWA and CWA,
>>>without making any entries in the schema to reflect which assumption is
>>>operative. Or maybe it's just a disconnect between Brian and SQL.
>>
>>I don't think that's right.
>>
>>CWA: "If there ain't no row, then it ain't so."
>>
>>But there is a row:
>>
>>Package {{PackageNumber:12341, Weight:NULL}}
>>
>>Translation: there is a Package with a PackageNumber that is an element of
>>the set of all of PackageNumbers and with a Weight that is an element of the
>>set of all Weights; oh, and by the way, the PackageNumber happens to be
>>12341.
> > I disagree. Your interpretation is that a package number with no recorded > weight does, in fact, have a weight drawn for the set of all weights is an > interpretation on your poart of the real world. It isn't inherent in the > database schema. > > There could be a database schema where a NULL in the wieght column is > intended to convey that weight is inapplicable to this given package number. > This is the same information that would be conveyed by omitting a row in a > table that consists only of {PackageNumber, Weight}. > > NULL means that there is no data here. It doesn't necessarily mean that the > value is unknown.
The problem with that is the rules for NULL in SQL are inconsistent with "inapplicable". Received on Thu Jul 10 2008 - 15:06:54 CEST