Re: Fabian Pascal and RDBMS deficiencies in fully implementing the relational model

On Thu, Jun 08, 2006 at 05:21:07AM -0700, dananrg(at)yahoo(dot)com wrote:
> I'm reading, and enjoying immensely, Fabial Pascal's book "Practical
> Issues in Database Management."

Be aware that Pascal, along with Date and Darwen, are...how do I put
this gently...cranks. They've been getting more strident and
irrational as the decades go by.

Pascal, Date, and Darwen have been alleging for years, with increasing
shrillness, that DBMSs should be based on set theory and 2-value
logic. I say "alleging" because they have not backed up this idea
with any actual software that others could test. SQL DBMSs are based
on bag theory[1] and 3-value logic[2]. Until they come up with a
testable system, or Hell freezes over, whichever comes first, Pascal's
book will make a good companion on your shelf to books on
Phlogiston[3] theory, or a decent doorstop, whichever you prefer.

Cheers,
D

[1] Basically set theory with repetition of elements allowed. This in
turn makes aggregates easy and natural to implement.

[2] A boolean value can take the values true, false and unknown.

[3] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phlogiston

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David Fetter <david(at)fetter(dot)org> http://fetter.org/
phone: +1 415 235 3778 AIM: dfetter666
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