Re: Plural or singular table names

"Paul Vernon" <paul.vernon_at_ukk.ibmm.comm> wrote in message news:bj03ig$1gqg$1_at_gazette.almaden.ibm.com...
> "Bob Badour" <bbadour_at_golden.net> wrote in message
> news:vOg4b.207$Eu2.25006220_at_mantis.golden.net...
> > "Ray Cassick (home)" <raycassNOSPAM_at_adelphia.net> wrote in message
> > news:4qf4b.11737$Nc.6608551_at_news1.news.adelphia.net...
> > > Well my company is going through its processes of writing company
> > standards
> > > documents and we are at the age old question:
> > >
> > > "Should table names be in the plural or singular forms?"
> [snip]
> > From a theory standpoint, it's just a name. X and Y are as good as any
other
> > names.

>
> That depends on where you draw the theory line in the sand. If you are
interesting
> only in say the mathamatics of relational algebra, then indeed the names
are not very
> important, but even then 'X' would be prefered to say 'XAS$%£^AF"sgrSFPI'
by most.

The point is the preference is psychological and not based on any particular theory. Different people will have different psychological needs leading to different preferences.

> If you prefer to not draw a line between the theory and the practical,
then there is
> no reason why a 'theory of names' cannot be considered.

I don't draw a line between theory and practice. I draw a line between theory and biological empiricism.

> Such a theory would surly be
> able to tell us that

>


>     { Loves, Loved }


>

Why?

> or

>
> { Cabbage, Potato }

Why?

> and certain much better than
>
> { Hates, Hated }

Why?

> for a tuple purporting to represent predicates of the form
>
> "Juliet loves Romeo"

The predicate and not the name provides the semantic context. Consider the following relation:

Rottweiler:

Cabbage        Potato        Turnip
======        =====        =====
Juliet            loves            Romeo
Romeo        loves            Juliet
Osama        hates            America

It won't read like english in the predicate calculus, but that won't affect the objective meaning of the predicate.

I am not saying I prefer vegetable names; I am only saying the bottom line of the issue is it is a matter of preference or of psychology.

In terms of the usability issue, one would have to make empirical measurements to form an objective conclusion, and I suspect the results would differ for different uses and for different user communities. Any applicable principles would come from the HCI community. Received on Mon Sep 01 2003 - 22:17:24 CEST