Re: theory and practice: ying and yang
Date: Mon, 30 May 2005 02:34:37 GMT
Message-ID: <1Zume.10183$uR4.5282_at_newsread2.news.atl.earthlink.net>
"mountain man" <hobbit_at_southern_seaweed.com.op> wrote in message news:Jmhme.6075$BR4.3193_at_news-server.bigpond.net.au...
> If you disagree, which of the 25 chapters of his
> "Introduction to Database System" (7th Ed)
> would you put forward as the least theoretical,
> and most concerned with practice?
I'm not going to try to make that case.
What I base my opinion on is several delightful articles on the subject of
"Theory IS Practical", in which the consequences of going against theory
are explored. In the cases Date outlines, the practical consequences are
adverse.
When those who know some body of theory deliberately make a design choice
that the theory doesn't recommend, for reasons that are outside the scope
of the theory, it can work out well. When those who don't know some body