Kevin Toppenberg wrote:
> Bill, > > Thanks. You're welcome. > And a "query" is really a search, right? Yes, with a short caveat. "Search" is a general activity. "Query" is a specific technique for searching a set of data. "Query" is typically, in the parlance, used as shorthand for "relational query." > And search, in my opinion, is not a strong > feature of Fileman. If something is not > indexed, there is no "brute force" search > method other than writing a program to do it. Exactly. Without the intervening layer introduced by the Relational Model, a search is intimately and inextricably bound to the underlying structure of the data to be searched. Change the structure of the data and you have to change the programs that access it. That is the problem, along with a host of related ones, that Codd set out to solve. The Relational Model solved that problem and did so in a mathematically provable way. The "mathematically provable" part is what you found so enlightening on the Wikipedia ;-) Best regards, Bill Kevin On 3/29/06, Bill Walton <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Hi Kevin, > > Kevin Toppenberg wrote: > > > Well, I missed database 101, so this is > > way over my head. I started to ask what > > "relational" ment in the term relational database. > > But then I decided to read about it on wikipedia > > and found this description of the relational model: > > > > ---------------- > > The fundamental assumption of the relational model > > <snip> > > > And being no further enlightened, I have decided > > to stick to medicine :-) > > Being instructed on how the clock works didn't get you closer to knowing > what time it is? ;-) > > Seriously though... > > The relational model was and is important for one fundamental reason: it > guarantees that any and all data you put in can be retrieved via a query (as > opposed to "walking the tree"). Independent of any of their other > advantages, no other storage model can accurately make that claim. > > HTH, > Bill > > > ------------------------------------------------------- > This SF.Net email is sponsored by xPML, a groundbreaking scripting language > that extends applications into web and mobile media. Attend the live webcast > and join the prime developer group breaking into this new coding territory! > http://sel.as-us.falkag.net/sel?cmd=lnk&kid=110944&bid=241720&dat=121642 > _______________________________________________ > Hardhats-members mailing list > Hardhats-members@lists.sourceforge.net > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/hardhats-members > ------------------------------------------------------- This SF.Net email is sponsored by xPML, a groundbreaking scripting language that extends applications into web and mobile media. Attend the live webcast and join the prime developer group breaking into this new coding territory! http://sel.as-us.falkag.net/sel?cmd=k&kid0944&bid$1720&dat1642 _______________________________________________ Hardhats-members mailing list Hardhats-members@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/hardhats-members ------------------------------------------------------- This SF.Net email is sponsored by xPML, a groundbreaking scripting language that extends applications into web and mobile media. Attend the live webcast and join the prime developer group breaking into this new coding territory! http://sel.as-us.falkag.net/sel?cmd=lnk&kid=110944&bid=241720&dat=121642 _______________________________________________ Hardhats-members mailing list Hardhats-members@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/hardhats-members
