Re: c.d.theory glossary

I'll include a draft of a couple of these for starters.

1. Class
2. Database
3. DBMS
4. Domain
5. Function A binary mathematical relation with at most one b for each a in (a,b).

A many-to-one relation of ordered pairs that maps each a to a unique b. It is important to note that every function is, by definition, a relation.

6. MultiValue (I'm sure this shoudl be trimmed since I wrote it for another purpose a while back)

1. A data field (or attribute) defined to permit a variable number of values as a list (array).

A field or attribute can be defined as single or multivalued. Data models that include multivalues are considered to be non-first normal form (sometimes NF2). The data may be viewed as logically flat tables for ODBC or SQL-92 queries, for example, by viewing each multivalued element as if in a logical child table.

b) One name for the industry surrounding the Nelson-Pick data model platform.

Flexible, non-first normal form software environment supporting a multi-billion dollar industry with users numbering in the multi-millions. Call it what you will -- the industry's best kept secret, a techno-cult, a legacy system, or a niche technology for PICK® zealots, mid-size companies, or old-timers -- developer productivity and bang for the buck solutions are not yet out of fashion. The family tree of MultiValue database vendors is extensive, with current products including those from IBM®, Raining Data®, Northgate Information Solutions, Via Systems, Revelation Software, and jBASE®.

7. Normalize
8. NULL
9. Object

10. Persistence
11. RDBMS