[XML-DEV Mailing List Archive Home] [By Thread] [By Date] [Recent Entries] [Reply To This Message] Re: XML and the Relational Model (was Re: A standar
--- Jonathan Robie <jonathan.robie@d...> wrote: > >Reconciliation? You mean so that RM is the same as > a Tree Model, and vice > >versa? I suppose a translation or interpretive > method can be done, but > >that does not make RM native to the Tree Model, or > vice versa. > > Of course not. Every model is a universe unto > itself. Computer Science > allows more than one model. Mappings among models > are useful. Yup. And new models can come along that transcend the competing models into special cases of a more abstract model. I guess the canonical example would be the wave vs particle models of light; to the best of my very limited understanding, they can be reconciled as special cases of a quantum electrodynamical thingamabob. My original point was that people are actively looking for tree-relational thingamabobs that would do likewise for the RM and XML. In the meantime, people gotta do what they gotta do to get the job done, I guess. I'd be very surprised to find a truly successful pure relational approach to the kind of terrabyte-scale, evolving document scenario that started this thread. An ad-hoc combination of the salient ideas from the relational approach (e.g. normalization, using value-based joins rather than hard-coded pointers or entity references to compose document components), the XML approach (e.g. hierarchical containment as an efficient way to bundle tightly related bits of information), and practical DBMS engineering techniques (e.g. indexes, transaction processing, database distribution and replication) seems like the most sensible approach to real-world problems. Totally Off-Topic: if Marie Curie had "waited to do the math" [as someone in one of these threads suggested] she might well have avoided an early death from cancer, but she might well have avoided the immortality she achieved by following her vision. Comparison's with Rosalind Franklin seem apt -- she did wait for the hard data rather than playing with ball and stick models, and died young anyway; it was decades before her contributions were recognized. Not too many of us would last long on the payroll after assuring the Pointy Haired Boss that although it takes hours to do each 100-way join required to perform a transaction that was specified to be done in seconds, he/she should take comfort from the database application's firm grounding in predicate logic and set theory :-)
|
PURCHASE STYLUS STUDIO ONLINE TODAY!Purchasing Stylus Studio from our online shop is Easy, Secure and Value Priced! Download The World's Best XML IDE!Accelerate XML development with our award-winning XML IDE - Download a free trial today! Subscribe in XML format
|