I obviously can't speak for the list, but I find Fabian Pascal to be very interesting, but quite academic. What I *think* that I mean by this is that a lot of what he says seems to make theoretical sense, but I'm unsure how applicable it is to practice. IOW the general feel that I get from Fabian (and indeed Date) is that if something doesn't meet relational theory then it is flawed. This may well be a good default position to have, but I'm unprepared to say to folk who pay my wages 'sorry your data model isn't in 3NF' or 'you shall not use a materialized view'. I *will* quite happily say 'so how will you ensure data integrity?' 'what happens if another program uses the same data' or 'why did you use computed summaries?'
Niall > -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On > Behalf Of Daniel Hanks > Sent: 19 November 2003 16:25 > To: Multiple recipients of list ORACLE-L > Subject: Re: Any articles/books that take relational theory > and make it > > > On Wed, 19 Nov 2003 [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > > > I swapped emails with a member of the list and Im having trouble > > seeing how you can take 3NF, BCNF, etc... and turn that into DBA > > speak. One of the guys told me that BCNF essentially means > you have a > > key that you can put a unique constraint on. Well that > makes this much > > easier to understand. > > > > Hrm, I thought a key, by definition, implied a unique constraint... > > > All my theory books just discuss theory. Anyone know some > that split > > the difference. IE, not Codd, not CJ Date, Not the academic > textbooks. > > > > I'm not sure what the opinion on Fabian Pascal is here on the > list, but I found his "Practical issues in Database > Management" to be very good. It's subtitled "A reference for > the thinking practitioner". It's not a textbook, but it does > make you use your brain a bit. It might be what you're > looking for. It has helped to clarify the relational model > for me, but might put some people off as it's critical > (without naming specific products) of most current > implementations of 'relational' databases. > > > Thanks. > > > > > > -- Dan > ============================================================== > ========== > Daniel Hanks - Systems/Database Administrator > About Inc., Web Services Division > ============================================================== > ========== > -- > Please see the official ORACLE-L FAQ: http://www.orafaq.net > -- > Author: Daniel Hanks > INET: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > Fat City Network Services -- 858-538-5051 http://www.fatcity.com > San Diego, California -- Mailing list and web hosting services > --------------------------------------------------------------------- > To REMOVE yourself from this mailing list, send an E-Mail message > to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (note EXACT spelling of 'ListGuru') > and in the message BODY, include a line containing: UNSUB > ORACLE-L (or the name of mailing list you want to be removed > from). You may also send the HELP command for other > information (like subscribing). > -- Please see the official ORACLE-L FAQ: http://www.orafaq.net -- Author: Niall Litchfield INET: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Fat City Network Services -- 858-538-5051 http://www.fatcity.com San Diego, California -- Mailing list and web hosting services --------------------------------------------------------------------- To REMOVE yourself from this mailing list, send an E-Mail message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (note EXACT spelling of 'ListGuru') and in the message BODY, include a line containing: UNSUB ORACLE-L (or the name of mailing list you want to be removed from). You may also send the HELP command for other information (like subscribing).
