Re: Dreaming About Redesigning SQL

Quoth "Anthony W. Youngman" <thewolery_at_nospam.demon.co.uk>:
> "Think different". Think Engineering, not Maths. And for $DEITY's
> sake stop going on about science. Unless you can use set theory to
> predict the future, relational has nothing to do with science ...

When the engineers do things that don't depend on successful application of "maths," they wind up doing irrational things.

When the engineers go through their schooling, they may not bother learning much about the theory behind what they do, but that merely demonstrates that their focus is away from the theory. It does not mean that the theory is not there.

When they apply formulae, they apply formulae that had to be established by some form of theory.

I used to be involved with engineering calculus courses; the fact that they didn't bother looking at theorems, and focused on techniques for differentiating/integrating hideous functions as opposed to the theory does not mean that Calculus is absent of theory. It merely means they didn't bother with it.

You seem to be suggesting that there oughtn't be any reason for things to be as they are. While I can imagine mature engineers considering it of no personal value to study theory, I _can't_ see them having that much disrespect for it.

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