schema evolution (was Re: Database schema for universal usage)

"Jan Hidders" <jan.hidders_at_REMOVETHIS.pandora.be> wrote in message news:NEIme.105720$0q6.6185004_at_phobos.telenet-ops.be...
> mountain man wrote:
>>
>> It was a brief discussion only for the purpose of asking the
>> following two questions which have not yet been answered:
>>
>> 1) Is it clear/true that Date's "abstract machine" necessarily
>> evolves due to change management considerations over
>> time? (eg: expansion of business to include widgets)
>
> Yes, this is usually known as "schema evolution" and used to be a popular
> research subject in the database and data modelling communities.
>
>> 2) Does Date reference this issue?
>
> A little. He usually discusses some of the research that has been going on
> in that area. Unfortunately, and that is certainly not Date's fault, there
> is still not a nice single broad theory on how that problem should be
> approached, but rather a lot of ad-hoc approaches and a few partial
> theoretical results here and there.

Thanks for this information Jan.
I am glad to hear that the issue is alive.

Pete Brown
Falls Creek
Oz
www.mountainman.com.au Received on Tue May 31 2005 - 01:32:47 CEST