Agreed. And I think you'll admit it's better to be familiar with and aware of the theory, even if current db products don't live up to the model 100%, so you know to bring up the kinds of issues you mention in the first place. In that sense, I think the knowledge to be gained from Date, Darwen, Pascal, etc., can be very practical.
-- Dan On Wed, 19 Nov 2003, Niall Litchfield wrote: > 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). > > > > -- ======================================================================== 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).
