Re: Data Model

From: Neo <neo55592_at_hotmail.com>
Date: 5 Apr 2006 14:14:20 -0700
Message-ID: <1144271660.847864.246960_at_i40g2000cwc.googlegroups.com>

> There are many Judges.
> There are many Buildings.
> There are many Locations inside buildings( such as floors ).
> Each judge must reside at exactly one location.
> A staff member has a name, phone number, and email.
> Each judge has 6 staff members, one of each type:
> Clerk, Assistant Clerk, Coordinator, Bailiff, and Court Reporter.
>
> I'm looking forward to seeing the different results.

:) I am pretty sure you were not looking for results as different as this, but here it is to tickle your mind.

The script below populates an experimental db with the following persons: Judge Judy (phone# 333-5555, email j_at_aol.com & judgeJudy_at_law.com) who has following staff members: Clerk Clark (who has Assistant Ashley), Coordinator Colby, Bailiff Brandy and Court-Reporter Courtney each with various properties. Building CourtHouse1 has two floors. The first floor has room1. The second floor has room1 and room2. Various person are placed in different parts of CourtHouse1. The sample query (near end of script) finds a staff member of a judge whose assistant has a certain phone#. Data can be easily navigated when viewed in a tree just by clicking nodes (even though the underlying data doesn't necessarily have a tree structure); where as in RM, it will require one to join multiple tables. If requested, I can email the populated db/exe (188 kb zip file) so one can see for themselves. Note, it is a prototype so other features may not work. Note, I did not make bi-directional relationships (ie j_at_aol.com emailOf judy) to keep the example simple. One effect of creating bi-directional relationships would have been to allow user to effectively "walk up" any relationship while expanding tree nodes. Note, script expressions become more elaborate when dealing with multiple things with the same name.

Unlike RMDBs, where one must first design a schema/structure to hold anticipated data, no schema is required before entering data in the experimental db. The reason is, it already starts with a very general schema that is capable of modelling most anything in a normalized manner. This is partially why unanticipated types of data can be added on the fly during execution without a design/compile phase. Db automatically normalizes data and maintains referential integrity. Other constraints, such as each person must have a phone number or 6 staff members, need to be implemented at code level where as RMDBs can implement such basic constriants at db level.

// Create a type named building.
(create type instance (new))
(create (it) name (findElseAdd name instance 'building'))
(create dir item (it))

// Create a type named floor.
(create type instance (new))
(create (it) name (findElseAdd name instance 'floor'))
(create dir item (it))

// Create a type named room.
(create type instance (new))
(create (it) name (findElseAdd name instance 'room'))
(create dir item (it))

// Create a type named person.
(create type instance (new))
(create (it) name (findElseAdd name instance 'person'))
(create dir item (it))

// Create a type named judge.
(create type instance (new))
(create (it) name (findElseAdd name instance 'judge'))
(create dir item (it))

// Create a type named staffMember.
(create type instance (new))
(create (it) name (findElseAdd name instance 'staffMember'))
(create dir item (it))

// Create a type named clerk.
(create type instance (new))
(create (it) name (findElseAdd name instance 'clerk'))
(create dir item (it))

// Create a type named assistant.
(create type instance (new))
(create (it) name (findElseAdd name instance 'assistant'))
(create dir item (it))

// Create a type named coordinator.
(create type instance (new))
(create (it) name (findElseAdd name instance 'coordinator'))
(create dir item (it))

// Create a type named bailiff.
(create type instance (new))
(create (it) name (findElseAdd name instance 'bailiff'))
(create dir item (it))

// Create a type named courtReporter.
(create type instance (new))
(create (it) name (findElseAdd name instance 'courtReporter'))
(create dir item (it))

// Create a type named phone#.
(create type instance (new))
(create (it) name (findElseAdd name instance 'phone#'))
(create dir item (it))

// Create a type named email.
(create type instance (new))
(create (it) name (findElseAdd name instance 'email'))
(create dir item (it))

// Create a verb instance named has.
(create verb instance (new))
(create (it) name (findElseAdd name instance 'has'))

// Create a person/judge named Judy.
(create person instance (new))
(create judge instance (it))
(create (it) name (findElseAdd name instance 'judy'))
(create (it) phone# (findElseAdd phone# instance '333-5555'))
(create (it) phone# (findElseAdd phone# instance 'JDG-JUDY'))
(create (it) email (findElseAdd email instance 'j_at_aol.com'))
(create (it) email (findElseAdd email instance 'judy_at_law.com'))

// Create a person/staffMember/clerk named Clark.
(create person instance (new))
(create staffMember instance (it))
(create clerk instance (it))
(create (it) name (findElseAdd name instance 'clark'))
(create (it) phone# (findElseAdd phone# instance '737-5588'))

// Create a person/staffMember/clerk/assistant named Ashley.
(create person instance (new))
(create staffMember instance (it))
(create clerk instance (it))
(create assistant instance (it))
(create (it) name (findElseAdd name instance 'ashley'))
(create (it) phone# (findElseAdd phone# instance '737-5588'))

// Create a person/staffMember/coordinator named Colby.
(create person instance (new))
(create staffMember instance (it))
(create coordinator instance (it))
(create (it) name (findElseAdd name instance 'colby'))
(create (it) email (findElseAdd email instance 'colby_at_msn.com'))

// Create a person/staffMember/bailiff named Brandy.
(create person instance (new))
(create staffMember instance (it))
(create bailiff instance (it))
(create (it) name (findElseAdd name instance 'brandy'))
(create (it) phone# (findElseAdd phone# instance '919-9945'))

// Create a person/staffMember/courtReporter named Courtney.
(create person instance (new))
(create staffMember instance (it))
(create courtReporter instance (it))
(create (it) name (findElseAdd name instance 'courtney'))
(create (it) phone# (findElseAdd phone# instance '203-9898'))
(create (it) email (findElseAdd email instance 'c_at_gov.org'))

// Create judge judy's staffMembers.
(create judy staffMember clark)
(create judy staffMember ashley)
(create judy staffMember colby)
(create judy staffMember brandy)
(create judy staffMember courtney)

// Create Clark's assistant Ashley
(create clark assistant ashley)

// Create a building instance named CourtHouse1.
(create building instance (new))
(create (it) name (findElseAdd name instance 'courtHouse1'))

// Create a floor instance named floor1
// and make it part of courtHouse1.
(create floor instance (new))
(create (it) name (findElseAdd name instance 'floor1'))
(create courtHouse1 has (it))

// Create room instances named room1
// and make it part of floor1.
(create room instance (new))
(create (it) name (findElseAdd name instance 'room1'))
(create floor1 has (it))

// Create a floor instance named floor2. // and make it part of courtHouse1.
(create floor instance (new))
(create (it) name (findElseAdd name instance 'floor2'))
(create courtHouse1 has (it))

// Create room instances named room1
// and make it part of floor2.
(create room instance (new))
(create (it) name (findElseAdd name instance 'room1'))
(create floor2 has (it))

// Create room instances named room2
// and make it part of floor2.
(create room instance (new))
(create (it) name (findElseAdd name instance 'room2'))
(create floor2 has (it))

// Create CourtHouse1's has reporter Courtney.
(create courtHouse1 has courtney)

// Create CourtHouse1's floor1's has Ashley.
(create (relElem (select courtHouse1 has floor1))

        has
        ashley)

// Create CourtHouse1's floor1's room1 has Clark.
(create (relElem (select (relElem (select courtHouse1 has floor1))

                       has
                       room1))
        has
        clark)

// Create CourtHouse1's floor2's room2's has Judge Judy.
(create (relElem (select (relElem (select courtHouse1 has floor2))

                       has
                       room2))
        has
        judy)

// Find a staff member of a judge

// whose assistant has phone# 737-5588.
// Displays clerk Clark.
(msgbox (and (select (select judge instance *) staffMember *)

             (select * assistant (select * phone# 737-5588)))) Received on Wed Apr 05 2006 - 23:14:20 CEST