Re: does a table always need a PK?
Date: Fri, 29 Aug 2003 11:41:00 GMT
Message-ID: <gZG3b.333$st4.19_at_read3.inet.fi>
Tony,
"Tony Douglas" <tonyisyourpal_at_netscape.net> kirjoitti viestissä
news:bcb8c360.0308280307.7293d31a_at_posting.google.com...
> Hello there,
...
> mathematics currently has little or nothing to say ? (Or has someone
> produced a mathematical model of a tape drive, how to write to it, and
> what a backup to it means, for example ?) Or put more simply, do all
> formal def'ns have to be mathematical def'ns, or are there some
> problems for which we have to descend to natural language (with all
> that entails) whether we like it or not ?
in computer science people usually think that a formal definition has to be mechanically verifiable, at least in principle.
> However, even without mathematical def'ns, we have operating systems,
> and DBMSs. A mathematical def'n may well improve our understanding of
> DBMSs further; could I then make a product request that a mathematical
> def'n be formulated and implemented as MySql 6 ? :)
Formal proofs of program correctness are too difficult for big programs, but I have seen that for some details, writing a partial specification and proving the correctness in a mathematical fashion has uncovered bugs.
...
> - Tony
Regards,
Heikki Received on Fri Aug 29 2003 - 13:41:00 CEST