Re: Database design, Keys and some other things

David Cressey wrote:
> "Marshall Spight" <marshall.spight_at_gmail.com> wrote in message
>
> > However, there is a definite trap in this general area, which
> > is the trap of thinking that there is anything profound to
> > be said about the relationship between the internal and the
> > external predicate. That relationship, between the database
> > and the world it models, exists only in the minds of the users
> > of the system, and it is wholly an illusion, if you will.
> > This is an important point, and it is also a philosophical one.
>
>
> I've seen an interesting way of presenting this idea, or a similar one.
>
> The authors call what the database serves up 'opinions' rather than
> 'facts'.

Ha! I didn't like it for the first minute, but now I *really* like it! In fact, that use of the word is quite accurate: each *human* has some abstraction of the truth of the world in his mind, and when he speaks, he speaks his opinion. How is this not exactly the same situation with the dbms? :-)

Marshall Received on Sat Oct 01 2005 - 16:54:51 CEST