Re: Modelling objects with variable number of properties in an RDBMS

In message <MNqdnfUFqvsGGfTenZ2dnUVZ_tGdnZ2d_at_comcast.com>, VC <boston103_at_hotmail.com> writes
>
>"Bernard Peek" <bap_at_shrdlu.com> wrote in message
>news:xGctaeGgBWaDFwgS_at_shrdlu.com...
>> In message <xpednZGpW5rOofTeRVn-pQ_at_comcast.com>, VC
>> <boston103_at_hotmail.com> writes
>>
>>>> Should these tests really be considered attributes? Wouldn't the act
>>>> of presenting them as a two-tuple relation <test#, test result> simple
>>>> be an wise step of normalization - not an example of an EAV
>>>> decomposition? Am I totally missing the boat on this?
>>>
>>>It's a single test with ~6000 measurements.
>>
>> That doesn't sound like something that requires multiple attributes. If
>> it's a single test then the results are presumably in one domain so a
>> single entity should work.
>
>I am not intimately familiar with the testing process. According to the
>person who created the model, it's a drug discovery chemical compound
>testing process which runs daily. The test result for a given compound is
>represented by many thousands of numbers, hence 600 attributes per entity.
>They generated close to half a terabyte of experimental data each day.

OK, that's going to be a lot of data however it's organised. I've got some idea of the problem domain, I started out as a pharmaceutical researcher. But without more details of the test I can't picture the structure of the data, and that's what I need to recommend a solution. If you can get me more information I could perhaps give more help. Email me if you don't want to post the details here.

-- 
Bernard Peek
London, UK. DBA, Manager, Trainer & Author.