Path: newssvr20.news.prodigy.com!newsmst01.news.prodigy.com!prodigy.com!news-out.triton.net!triton.net!newsfeeder.triton.net!news-spur1.maxwell.syr.edu!news.maxwell.syr.edu!postnews1.google.com!not-for-mail From: tonyisyourpal@netscape.net (Tony Douglas) Newsgroups: comp.object,comp.databases.theory Subject: Re: OOP - a question about database access Date: 11 Nov 2003 08:14:47 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com Lines: 62 Message-ID: References: <3FA6C49F.2020404@verizon.net> NNTP-Posting-Host: 194.247.86.100 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-Trace: posting.google.com 1068567287 13245 127.0.0.1 (11 Nov 2003 16:14:47 GMT) X-Complaints-To: groups-abuse@google.com NNTP-Posting-Date: Tue, 11 Nov 2003 16:14:47 +0000 (UTC) Xref: newssvr20.news.prodigy.com comp.object:132433 comp.databases.theory:22621 alfredo@ncs.es (Alfredo Novoa) wrote in message news:... > > Are user defined operators applications?? > I wouldn't say so. > Are builtin operators like join, union, etc also applications? > I definitely wouldn't say so. > application program > > (Or "application", "app") A > complete, self-contained program that performs a specific > function directly for the user. This is in contrast to system > software such as the operating system kernel, server > processes and libraries which exists to support application > programs. > Self-contained ? "directly for the user" ? What about batch processes ? > According to this, MonthEnd() is not an application. > If you're arguing that MonthEnd() is an operator, then to which data type or domain does it belong ? How about; an operator (system or user defined) is a general function on a particular data type, and an application is a combination of operators to perform a user specific computation ? (Thinking off the top of my head; no doubt someone will think of umpteen counter-examples, alternate definitions, blah-de-blah). > > > I think that the future is for D like languages, but probably it will > > > be in a distant future. > > > I don't; otherwise, the future is more of the past. Just a little nicer. > Users prove that all the time. They are always able to invent weird > presentation rules that no developer could imagine :) > But they'll still be able to to tell you how things should happen; if they can't, then there's still a pile of analysis/cajoling/thinking to be done. > I don't remember the page, but TTM says that in practice you can not > build a declarative system that is able to express everything. > I would be *extremely* interested to see the chapter and verse for this quote; for the simple reason that I don't really believe it; what examples were/are given ? [snip] > Speaking loosely, because declarative works when you say the "what" > and the system knows the "how", but when the system does not know the > "how" you must show it, and this is procedural programming. > Think about that statement for a moment; in other words, "I can't tell you what I want you to do, but I can tell you how to go about it" ? - Tony