Re: A pk is *both* a physical and a logical object.

On Aug 15, 6:45 am, "Brian Selzer" <br..._at_selzer-software.com> wrote: [snip]
> A simple example: Suppose that you built several identical computers. Each
> has one motherboard, one DIMM, one hard drive, one video board, and one
> case. Each component is serialized, so the serial number for each component
> would be a candidate key value in a relation describing the composition of
> each computer. You're having trouble with one of the computers, but you're
> not sure which component is failing, or even if it is a hardware problem, so
> you swap the hard drives from two of the computers to see if the problem
> moves. For either of the two computers affected by the swap, the
> motherboard is the same, the DIMM is the same, the video board is the same,
> and the case is the same. So obviously, since those serial numbers are the
> same before and after the swap, it's the same computer, right? But wait,
> the hard drive is different; therefore, it must not be the same computer
> because the serial numbers for the hard drives are different.

Nice little example. The answer is that in your schema you have no concept of a computer. None whatsoever. A computer does not exist. There is just a relationship between several components. A computer (which you have defined as a set of components) has no identity of its own over time outside the things it contains - and as such, if these components can be changed, it simply cannot be identified throughout its lifetime.

Hence if you switch a component, well then you have a different set of components. And if you want to call that set of components a computer, yes, you have a different computer.

If this was not what was desired (as I imagine) then your schema was broken. Your computer should have an id on the box to allow it to be identified / give it an identity.

Make sense?

> [snip]
> >> In addition, identification is not identity!
>
> > Aha! That's where we differ then. That is /exactly/ what identity is
> > in my opinion. Identification is stating that if I know one attribute
> > (or set of attributes) I can functionally determine the rest. Perhaps
> > we should discuss that and then the rest of the arguments might fall
> > into place? Let me start the ball rolling, with a catfood example for
> > the new century ;)
>
> An individual's identification is a set of properties that distinguishes the
> individual from all others in the context of a picture of the universe; an
> individual's identity is that set of properties that defines the individual.
> These are two different things.

"identity is that set of properties that defines the individual." - what does that mean, if not the properties that distinguish it from other entities of the same type in that universe?

>
> > ------------------------------------------
> > I am shown a can of catfood from an identical batch of three. Its
> > only, single identifying feature is a number on it. I read it, and the
> > can is taken away. I am then shown a new can. Is it the same can? Does
> > it have the same identity? I read the number on it, which is
> > different. I conclude therefore, quite sensibly, it is a different can
> > to the first.
>
> > Unbeknownst to me someone had shuffled the can numbers up at random
> > after i'd read the first one. Even this mischevious soul himself has
> > no idea if the original can I was given ended up with the same number
> > on it as before (the shuffling was done blind). In fact /noone/ in the
> > world now knows.
>
> > Where does identity stand now?
> > ------------------------------------------
>
> Identity stands as it always did. What is different is identification.

If /noone/ can identify it any longer you still think the original can has some god-given soul-number? Us, humans, give something an identity - it doesn't just exist as a force of nature.

> This is a perfect example of why update is primitive and assignment isn't.
> An assignment replaces the current relation value with a new one, blindly,
> but an update specifies which tuples are different and how each differs,

An update replaces a relation with a new one with a delete, and then replaces it again with another new relation with an insert. Just because it the system does some jiggery pokery to work out which proposition to delete, and the content of the new one to be inserted does not change this.

> which has the same effect as observing each can of cat food throughout the
> interval from the first reading to the second. Obviously, if you were able
> to simultaneously observe each can, then there would be no doubt as to
> whether the new can is the original can.

In that (let us note different) situation there would be two different definitions of the relative identity of a can. One would be its point in space (which one observer has tracked) and the other its no. ID, which someone else is observing. Two different constructs. Neither is right, neither is wrong. Two things with their own distinct identity.

And given I'm sure your not suggesting that someone should walk around pointing at things continually to give them their identity, they must have an observable property that does not change in the propositions in which they feature, otherwise they simply could not be recognized as the same thing in real life, never mind a database encoding.

I know this is a subtle, uncomfortable way of viewing things - but I've managed to shake off the idea that something has an identity even if noone is observing it, so I'm sure others can. There is nothing to relative identity outside an objective human decision. Recognizing this means good conceptual modelling, as making the right decision is down to us. Regards, J.

> >> Identification is used by one individual to pick another out of a crowd,
> >> whereas identity is what one individual is. It may be that much of the
> >> confusion is caused by misinterpreting this simple distinction.
> >> Identification is the nominative form of the verb "to identify."
>
> >> Update is a primitive operation. It is not a shortcut--it cannot be a
> >> shortcut, because not all key values permanently identify individuals.
Received on Wed Aug 15 2007 - 11:07:59 CEST