Scott Hess wrote: > On Mon, Dec 13, 2010 at 1:27 PM, Puneet Kishor<punk.k...@gmail.com> wrote: >> Wols Lists wrote: >>> On 13/12/10 01:38, Darren Duncan wrote: >>>> Darren Duncan wrote: >>>>> Wols Lists wrote: >>>>>> Dunno how well that approach translates into a relational engine, >>>>>> because Pick has several very non-relational quirks (every "row" MUST >>>>>> have a primary key, the dictionary DEscribes, not PREscribes the FILE, >>>>>> etc etc). >>>>> Can you say more about this last paragraph. These last couple items don't >>>>> necessarily mean that Pick is non-relational given how they can be >>>>> interpreted. >>>>> (I don't know anything about Pick.) >>>> Actually, nevermind. Google is your friend. -- Darren Duncan >>> Pick is a jack-of-all-trades database - I describe it as being a bit >>> like C - it gives you all the rope you need to shoot yourself in the >>> foot :-) But it's best if used as an object-relational database. Pick >>> has FILEs and RECORDs instead of TABLEs and ROWs, and you can store >>> lists in a cell :-) >>> >>> Personally, I believe relational *technology* is fatally flawed by >>> design - there's nothing wrong with the maths, but you can't do >>> astronomy with classical physics and you can't do large information >>> stores with set theory :-) >>> >>> I know that's flame-bait, but let's quickly explain ... >>> >>> I would say that a well designed Pick database uses the >>> object-relational paradigm. Each file is a class, each record is an >>> instance, and each record is a FULLY NORMALISED N-DIMENSIONAL ARRAY. >>> (Just not first normal form.) >>> >>> So my datastore is heavily influenced by the real world. And I can >>> reason about real world performance. All stuff that's forbidden in a >>> "real" relational database. And actually, I can prove that my default >>> performance is pretty close to a real relational database's theoretical >>> best. >>> >>> But all of that depends on a close tying between the logical structure, >>> the physical structure, and the real world. And all of that is totally >>> antithetical to the basis behind relational database theory. >>> >>> And building on that, I would actually conclude that, just as in the >>> real world parallel lines DO meet (Euclid's statement to the contrary >>> notwithstanding), I would also conclude that in the real world data does >>> NOT come just as rows and columns in sets (C&D's statement to the >>> contrary notwithstanding), but it also comes in lists, bags, and jumbles. >>> >>> I'm quite happy to carry on discussing this, either privately or on the >>> list, but there's a very good chance the list wouldn't welcome it ... >>> >> >> I am interested in reading more about this. Why don't you write up a >> blog post or an article, put it on your web site. You do have a web >> site, no? Hopefully, powered by an object-relational, non-Euclidean, >> file-and-record database, the pick of the litter ;-) >> >> Seriously, I would love to read more about this as I am interested in >> storage technologies for gridded data (think cells in a remote sensing >> image). For now, all I have is the image of Dick Pick hanging upside >> down in his anti-gravity shoes burned in my brain. > > Pick has been around for a very long time, use those interwebs: > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pick_operating_system >
Yes, that is what lead me to see the image of Dick Pick hanging upside down. I am more interested in a focused take on rdbms vs. non-rdbms. It is a topic that I find rather fascinating, kinda like Republicans vs. Democrats. > -scott > _______________________________________________ > sqlite-users mailing list > sqlite-users@sqlite.org > http://sqlite.org:8080/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/sqlite-users -- Puneet Kishor http://punkish.org Carbon Model http://carbonmodel.org Charter Member, Open Source Geospatial Foundation http://www.osgeo.org Science Fellow http://creativecommons.org/about/people/fellows#puneetkishor Nelson Institute, UW-Madison http://www.nelson.wisc.edu --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Assertions are politics; backing up assertions with evidence is science =========================================================================== _______________________________________________ sqlite-users mailing list sqlite-users@sqlite.org http://sqlite.org:8080/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/sqlite-users
