Re: Normalize until neat, Automate until Complete

Kenneth Downs wrote:
>
> hmmm, I must be one of those practitioners who has only a shallow
> understanding of the theory. As far as I can tell, relational algebra and
> relational calculus are both about querying existing data (though I am
> willing to be corrected).

It's rather hard to query non-existent data.

> Under what terms might I find the theoretical
> foundation for the *generation* of information out of other information?

Depends on what you mean by theoretical foundation. Defining derived data is in essence no different from querying data. Why do you think some special distinct "theoretical foundation" would be required here?

• Jan Hidders