Path: news.easynews.com!core-easynews!newsfeed3.easynews.com!easynews.com!easynews!news.glorb.com!fu-berlin.de!uni-berlin.de!not-for-mail From: "Alan" Newsgroups: comp.databases.theory Subject: Re: A Normalization Question Date: Wed, 14 Jul 2004 13:23:28 -0400 Lines: 31 Message-ID: <2ll8geFe1am8U1@uni-berlin.de> References: <20040626120209.29625.00000578@mb-m16.aol.com> <4b45d3ad.0407081107.700a9113@posting.google.com> <4b45d3ad.0407082010.5ce47d50@posting.google.com> <4b45d3ad.0407121026.73a42717@posting.google.com> <4b45d3ad.0407122003.4dbedf73@posting.google.com> <4b45d3ad.0407140826.3ab81640@posting.google.com> X-Trace: news.uni-berlin.de 8g9y4l+pR39ENVRS+IeQugxahknEnvNZZTUqpC6cbEwV4KyPRi X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Newsreader: Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2800.1437 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2800.1441 Xref: core-easynews comp.databases.theory:36910 X-Received-Date: Wed, 14 Jul 2004 10:22:34 MST (news.easynews.com) "Neo" wrote in message news:4b45d3ad.0407140826.3ab81640@posting.google.com... > > Er, no. If you would have read beyond the first sentence you would seen > > that I meant that nothing in a DB *is* a fact but some things *represent* > > a fact. Big difference. > > Er, let's try again. I claim the string 'brown' is a fact. You say its > not. You say "A fact is a true proposition." I say the string 'brown' > is a true proposition that being: The string 'brown' is composed of > the symbols 'b', 'r', 'o', 'w' and 'n' in that order. Or in a simpler > form: 'brown' is composed of 'b', 'r', 'o', 'w' and 'n' in that order. > > Can you tell me why 'brown' is not a fact? Do you/RM need 'brown' to > be spreadout over multiple attribute values of a tuple before > recognizing it as a fact? If so, RM is a limited data model with > limited definitions. Wasting his time, Alan replies : "Brown is a string" is a true proposition. "Brown" is just a string, IOW, "Brown" in some context (E.g., "The car's color is brown") is a true proposition. Sitting there detached from the rest of the world, it is just an English word, or, to remain consistent with the knowledge that we are talking about a computer mini-world, it is just a string. This gets back to what everyone else understands: Normalization takes place in a meaningful (E.g., business) context. It is not about bits, bytes, strings, or physical storage.