A link to my latest All Analytics column was posted on the FP ONLINE page.
2.
A new Quote was posted on the QUOTES page.
3.
A new To Laugh or Cry? item was posted on the LAUGH/CRY? page. Here's a discussion of it. Of course, strictly speaking, our objection is to XML databases/DBMSs. But see if you can figure out what else is wrong with other claims made for it.
4.
C. J. Date's new book VIEW UPDATING AND RELATIONAL THEORY was added to the recommended books widget on the Home page. Please support this site by ordering via it.
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The book widget does not work here…
ReplyDeleteHhhhmmm, nobody else has reported any problems.
ReplyDeleteCan you provide some details?
OS & browser (add-ons can defeat it)
Do you see the widget?
Do you get an error?
If anybody else sees this, pls try and let me know if it works for you. Thanks.
Working fine for me. Windows 7 & IE 8
ReplyDeleteLeandro,
ReplyDeleteI suspect it has something to do with a browser add-on or some other cnflict.
Let me know if you resolved the problem and what was the source, in case somebody else runs into it.
In my firefox installation the books show up, in my opera installation they don't.
ReplyDeleteMy Opera installation is extremely "conservative" wrt "active content", my Firefox installation is less so.
At my end it works in IE, but not in Firefox. This suggest that our impression that it has to do either with the browser configuration or add-ons is likely correct.
DeleteAnd with all due respect, I really don't see what Chris Date's newest book on view updating could mean in practice to the people who I perceive to be the prime audience of this site ...
ReplyDeleteAs I see it, it's an issue for DBMS designers rather than for database designers, it's still a contentious issue no matter from which angle you look at it, and just having Chris Date's name on a proposed solution doesn't mean it must be right (in very much the same sense that having Codd's name on the Relational Model didn't mean _he_ got everything right) ...
I fully agree on DBMS designers, but I don't see why this book is of no interest to the readers of this site.
DeleteRecommending a book does not mean I subscribe to its arguments/solutions. It only means I consider it worth reading. Are you saying it is not?
Many readers use SQL systems where views are not updatable and may have interpreted it as problem of the RM. An attempt to dispels this misconception is good to know about. And if it is not a solution at least some will be able to figure it when they read it.
I may be over-sensitive to the issue.
DeleteAt any rate, I certainly do not agree that Date's writings on the subject are helpful wrt dispelling the misconception that "it is a problem of the RM".
One of the thorny problems is non-uniqueness of solutions, and non-uniqueness of solutions is a "problem" of mathematical equation solving in general, and, well, to be frank, Date seems to eliminate arbitrary choices [of possible solutions] by making arbitrary choices [of strategies for eliminating possible solutions].
Yes, and believe me I understand why. :)
DeleteThe books widget seems to rely on Adobe flashplayer.
ReplyDelete(<object classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://fpdownload.macromedia.com/get/flashplayer/...)
IIRC, there are two distinct versions of it, and browsers rely on exactly one of it, and you can have only one version on your machine, and if your browser needs the other version, then you're just screwed.
You apparently know more about it than I do.
DeleteDo browsers rely only on one because of compatibility, or it's just a matter of choice? IOW, can a user switch versions without consequences?