Path: dp-news.maxwell.syr.edu!spool.maxwell.syr.edu!drn.maxwell.syr.edu!news.maxwell.syr.edu!elnk-pas-nf1!newsfeed.earthlink.net!stamper.news.pas.earthlink.net!stamper.news.atl.earthlink.net!newsread3.news.atl.earthlink.net.POSTED!3ce9497d!not-for-mail Reply-To: "David Cressey" From: "David Cressey" Newsgroups: comp.databases.theory Subject: Full Name as Composite Attribute Lines: 36 X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Newsreader: Microsoft Outlook Express 5.50.4133.2400 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V5.50.4133.2400 Message-ID: Date: Mon, 28 Mar 2005 16:38:48 GMT NNTP-Posting-Host: 4.154.203.108 X-Complaints-To: abuse@earthlink.net X-Trace: newsread3.news.atl.earthlink.net 1112027928 4.154.203.108 (Mon, 28 Mar 2005 08:38:48 PST) NNTP-Posting-Date: Mon, 28 Mar 2005 08:38:48 PST Organization: EarthLink Inc. -- http://www.EarthLink.net Xref: dp-news.maxwell.syr.edu comp.databases.theory:30370 Recently a discussion came up in another thread about whether the term "composite attribute" is acceptable and meaningful terminology. I think that other thread answered that question in the affirmative, to most peoples' satisfaction. This thread is an attempt to provide an illustration of why "Composite Attribute" might or might not be a useful (!) concept to add to the fundamental data modeling tools one uses. I'd like to suggest that "Full Name" is a good candidate for such a discussion. My "Full Name" as it appears on my credit card is the same as my name in this NG, except that I have a middle initial. "Full Name", as one attribute of a person, even though it is composed of smaller attributes, makes a lot of sense. When would you want to decompose the name into subcomponents? Well, for example, if your were alphabetizing a list of authors, you might want to sort "Samuel Clemens" under "Clemens, Samuel". In order to compute the sort key from the full name, you have to know a little bit about the components of the full name. When you go multicultural, it gets more complicated. Some cultures include mother's maiden name, others put the family name first etc. I'm not really interested in such complexities. I'm interested in whether the concept of "Composite attribute" as illustrated by "full name" in fact simplifies data analysis or in fact makes things more difficult by hiding complexity that should not be hidden. I realize that this is a subjective judgement. But I'm interested in responses.