Re: Multiple-Attribute Keys and 1NF

JOG wrote:
> mAsterdam wrote:

>> JOG schreef:
>>
>>> mAsterdam wrote:
>>>> JOG wrote:
>>> .... Consequently In this instance I see what one can gain by
>>> encoding "Green" and "Yellow" separately in terms of flexibility, but
>>> not what one would lose. Either way, I am willing for the example to
>>> be interpreted in terms of such an information need.
>> The example has an existence of its own, though.
>>
>> Your preferred interpretation requires a leap of
>> faith many mediocre math-inclined formalists show
>> willing to take over and over again to no avail.

Just the faith that the problems' nature is such that a formalism can (help you) solve it. In this example I think it is clear that the problem is not in the form but in the substance. Two different kinds of information: colors as such and colors as symbols. No formal criterion can help you make that distinction.

Think of liters and kilograms - you won't add them together because your knowledge of nature makes you see the nonsense of that. This knowledge can be formalized into procedures - of course, but thats a wholly different problem from just modeling some volume and mass data about things having volume and mass properties.

There is a limit to which problems can be solved by applying formalisms. Problems of substance are beyond this limit. Received on Thu Aug 30 2007 - 19:16:36 CEST