Has this been done before or have I found something new

From: Mitchell Waite <mitchell.dnai_at_rcn.com>
Date: Fri, 24 Jan 2003 22:30:59 -0800
Message-ID: <b0tav0$b1b$1_at_unix2.broadviewnet.net>

Taking the chance that I am going to get flamed as a real database dummy, a programmer I work with has come up with a way of quickly identifying objects in a database by what he calls "smart" attribute elimination. I find it hard to believe that this idea has not been done before, so I want to know if this is something unique or we are just repeating a basic algorithm passed down though the ages. So here goes.

The basic idea is that a user wants to identify a particular object from a large set that all share common characteristics, for example he wants to identify a particular bird from a large group of birds in a database. The user selects an attribute that all the bird objects share, like eye color, and selects a particular value for it, say yellow. The program then eliminates all the bird objects that don't have that yellow value for their eye color attribute, reducing the number of birds left to search. There is nothing earth shattering about that I but here is the twist...the program also eliminates all attributes that are no longer relevant to objects that share the selected attribute's value. For example if all birds with yellow eyes happen to have the same kind of beaks, the beak attribute would be eliminated since it will not help reduce the search any further. This the programmer thinks is the smart attribute elimiation process, though I find it hard to belive that his idea is not taught as a basic concept of computer science.

Taking this idea another step, say in our example that none of the birds remaing birds have pointed wings, but do have other kinds of wing shapes, the pointed wing value would be eliminated from the wing shape attribute. That he calls smart value emlimination. This of course is a great way to speed up the search but what I would like to know is this a new idea or is this a common algorithm taught in school or does it even have a particular name.

Any help on clearing this up will be greatly appreciated.

Sincereley,

Mitchell Waite

Publisher, Waite Group Press
www.mitchwait.com
mitchell.dnai_at_rcn.com Received on Sat Jan 25 2003 - 07:30:59 CET