Path: news.cambrium.nl!textnews.cambrium.nl!feeder1.cambriumusenet.nl!feed.tweaknews.nl!209.197.12.242.MISMATCH!nx01.iad01.newshosting.com!newshosting.com!209.197.12.218.MISMATCH!post02.iad!news.aliant.net!not-for-mail Date: Sat, 06 Jun 2009 11:57:13 -0300 From: Bob Badour User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.7.2) Gecko/20040804 Netscape/7.2 (ax) X-Accept-Language: en-us, en MIME-Version: 1.0 Newsgroups: comp.databases.theory Subject: Re: Relation subset operators References: <902889ae-7034-4a6a-a619-a911feb0957a@o20g2000vbh.googlegroups.com> <7ecec67a-6c2b-459f-b0c9-1ff33428c017@t21g2000yqi.googlegroups.com> <53d6afdb-36b2-4fd9-a12f-3a7fdbc2f636@b1g2000vbc.googlegroups.com> <5b0a9d7b-2940-4e97-8e9a-9a283b0a2d71@o14g2000vbo.googlegroups.com> <007d0b6a-8698-4311-8628-b3f202f80a8d@s16g2000vbp.googlegroups.com> In-Reply-To: Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Lines: 64 Message-ID: <4a2a8367$0$23748$9a566e8b@news.aliant.net> NNTP-Posting-Host: 142.176.57.240 X-Complaints-To: abuse@aliant.net Xref: news.cambrium.nl paul c wrote: > Walter Mitty wrote: > ... >=20 >> Here's an attempt in Spanish >> >> "Si el conjunto de autos morados fuese un conjunto vac=C3=ADo, >> entonces ningun vendedor no podr=C3=ADa vender auto morado alguno >> (nisiquiera uno) de tal modo que todos los vendedores >> los han vendido todos. " >> >> It sounds equally absurd to me. I'm not sure it's right. >> Note the double negative, and the use of a subjunctive. >> ... >=20 > Thanks. Good observations, one could say such queries are indeed=20 > subjunctive (maybe all queries are), here's Date's SQL for "Get=20 > suppliers who supply all purple parts": >=20 > SELECT DISTINCT s.* > FROM S AS s > WHERE NOT EXISTS > ( SELECT DISTINCT p.* > FROM P AS p > WHERE p.COLOR =3D 'Purple' > AND NOT EXISTS > ( SELECT DISTINCT sp.* > FROM SP AS p > WHERE s.S# =3D sp.S# > AND sp.P# =3D p.P# ) ). >=20 > If I'm not mistaken the answer is that all suppliers supply no purple=20 > parts. Just a consequence of FOPC. >=20 >> A guy walks into a coffee shop, and orders a coffee without cream. >> The server says, "we're all out of cream today." >> "In that case," the guy responds, "I'll have a cup of coffee without=20 >> milk." >=20 > You might've hit the nail on the head (which the SQL accomplishes rathe= r=20 > extravagantly by using a wrench instead of a hammer). They did that=20 > joke in a Marlene Dietrich movie, cafe scene where the guy hustling her= =20 > and the (French) waiter can't take their eyes off her. Hustler asks fo= r=20 > coffee with no cream. Waiter says there is no cream, would coffee with= =20 > no milk do? So the coffee was the same, no matter whether it had no=20 > cream or no milk. Perhaps a viewpoint that life is subjunctive is the = > first baby step for escape from mysticism.. If you want subjunctive in English, you have to go with Tevye: "If I were a rich man, ya ha deedle deedle, bubba bubba deedle deedle=20 dum. All day long I'd biddy biddy bum. If I were a weathy man, I=20 wouldn't have to work hard. Ya ha deedle deedle, bubba bubba deedle=20 deedle dum. If I were a rich, Yiddle-diddle-didle-didle man." And if you want reflexive, you have to avail yourself of whatever you=20 can find.