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Re: XML and the Relational Model [long]

• To: <xml-dev@l...>
• Subject: Re: XML and the Relational Model [long]
• From: Murali Mani <mani@C...>
• Date: Thu, 28 Aug 2003 06:13:21 -0700 (PDT)
• In-reply-to: <006701c36cfd$8c9e5be0$6501a8c0@tbp1>

On Wed, 27 Aug 2003, Thomas B. Passin wrote:

> Just sloppy language on my part, I know that "relational" does not mean a
> storage format.  I did not really mean storage of bytes, but was thinking of
> the logical (or conceptual, if you like) level.
>
> For example, it is easy to model a two-level hierarchy in SQL, but it is
> awkward to model (and query) a hierarchy of an indefinite number of levels.
> So when the data model is deeply hierarchical, xml structures might have an
> advantage.

When you are thinking in terms of these, I think you should definitely see
some of the best practices for hierarchical model. For example, look up
any of the editions of
"Fundamentals of Database Systems" by Elmasri/Navathe

Jonathan Robie has worked on non-relational stores for XML, hopefully he
can give a non-salesperson and convincing perspective, as to when
non-relational store performs better than using relational stores..

note: relational store: storage model used for relational DBs..

cheers and regards - murali.

> If the data model is sparse, xml may be much better than a table-like model.
> Similarly when the contents of an element type may vary quite bit from one
> instance to another.
>
> On the other hand, if you create a well-normalized data model to begin
> with - when that is practical - you could probably implement it either with
> xml or with a relational database.  What are the differentiators between
> going one way or the other?

• References:
  • Re: XML and the Relational Model [long]
    • From: "Thomas B. Passin" <tpassin@c...>

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