Re: What databases have taught me

Erwin wrote:

>>oh, really ? Could you please elaborate about what you mean when
>>asserting that Smalltalk is "a thousand times more strictly
>>hierarchical" than Java etc ? I fail to understand about which
>>hierarchies you're talking about here - class hierarchy or runtime
>>associations between objects ?

>>>Hmmmmmm.  Is it really the *algebra* you think is crippled ?
>>
>>AFAICT, yes. At least what I learned as being "algèbre relationnelle".
>>
>>>What kind
>>>of operation do you think is unsupported by the algebra ?
>>
>>I don't know how this translates in english, the french term is
>>"fermeture transitive d'un graphe". IOW, if I have (minimal example):

Fine.

> and indeed you betray your
> ignorance.

Then blame my teachers for this. And all the litterature that keep on saying RA can't do this.

> The English term is "transitive closure", and the operator
> has, bel et bien, been part of the *algebra* since I don't know when.

some link, please ? (not that I doubt your assertion, just want to stop being ignorant)

>

>>AFAIK, when you put this into a RDBMS, you need additional code - either
>>in "procedural SQL" or in the client app - to deal with this.

<trolling>
And *this* was exactly the answer I was expecting !-) </trolling>

> The lack of a closure operator *IN
> SQL* should not be interpreted as a shortcoming of *the relational
> model*, nor as one of the relational algebra. Doing so is, as Chris
> Date puts it, criticizing the relational model for never having been
> implemented properly.

Possibly. But from a very practical POV, I do have to deal with this improper implementation.

>

>>I'd really like to know how to handle this cleanly and
>>efficiently with a RDBMS without using stored procedures... 

Where do I find one ?-)

> just invoke the closure
> operator over your binary relation (that records the links between the
> nodes). In an SQL DBMS, roll your own operator.

How ? With a stored procedure ? (else, any link welcome - I admit not having read the *whole* PostgreSQL doc).

> So your criticism of
> "not being able to handle hierarchies", is really a criticism of SQL,
> not one of the relational algebra.

Granted. Now since I don't have any better implementation of the relational model, I have to deal with the existing ones.

And FWIW, you didn't answer the question about heterogenous hierarchies. Here again, if you know the solution, please feel free to share.

-- 
bruno desthuilliers
python -c "print '_at_'.join(['.'.join([w[::-1] for w in p.split('.')]) for
p in 'onurb_at_xiludom.gro'.split('@')])"