On your "Quote of the Week -- 03/30/2003"
Massimo Dentico
m.dentico@virgilio.it
Tue, 01 Apr 2003 05:05:27 +0200
[A preceding sending seems aborted, sorry for the evantual duplicate.]
Dear editors of DataBase Debunkings,
I just noticed your quote of the week from an e-mail of mine to the
Tunes review mailing list. I don't know if you have read the entire e
-mail or only an excerpt. Anyway the exact reference to an archived copy
of my e-mail is:
http://lists.tunes.org/archives/review/2002-June/000174.html
You could link directly to this if you mind to take it in context.
I want to be sure to understand the fallacies you are pointing out. A
first inaccuracy could be historical, probably secondary for you, I
don't know, but in such case I'll be glad to be corrected.
Instead the most macroscopic fallacy is to call "data model" the "model"
(I lack a better word) of both network and hierarchic DBMSs, which is
inconsistent with my quote of Fabian Pascal's definition of data model
in the same e-mail: data types, structure, integrity and manipulation.
I was inadvertently using a terminology taken from these 2 books (and
that to my knowledge is in widespread use) which I was referring at the
beginning of my old e-mail.
One of the 2 is an italian translation of Jeffrey D. Ullman, "Principles
of Database and Knowledge - Base Systems", Volume I, 1988, Computer
Science Press, Inc.
In chapetr 2, paragraph 2.1, Ullman defines a data model as (my, more
likely inaccurate, translation from Italian):
"[..] a mathematical formalism composed by two parts:
1. a notation to describe data;
2. a set of operations to manipulate such data.
[..] Another is the network model that, for data description, uses
oriented graphs. [..]"
With respect to Pascal's definition, this lacks *at least* data
integrity.
Is it correct this retrospective recognition of my errors?
Thanks for your attention.
Best regards.
P.S.: I am sorry to have added confusion to this subject (even when I
was citing you) and for the incorrect links to your site in my old
email. Moreover, I hope that my bad English is comprehensible.
--
Massimo Dentico