From: Narsim Ganti
Date: Aug 10 2005
I have been practicing IT since 1968. I have seen so many
fads and many more pseudo experts that my stomach turns. After re-reading the
seminal paper on Relational Databases by Dr. Codd, it amazes me how much of
chaos and misinformation has been perpetrated by industry in the name of
relational
databases. The very core principles (three to be specific)
have been thrown out.
That is why we have a mess of disparate illogical data stores
(not relational databases). Pretending to solve it, even more garbage is
invented like middleware, EAI, data connectors, olap, rolap, molap, stored
procedures, triggers, bit mapped indexes, cluster indexes, partitions, data compression,
hash
tables, pointer arithmetic, garbage collection, database
reorgs, user defined data types, blobs, clobs, data marts, slowly varying
dimensions, factless fact tables, de-normalization, data warehouses, content
managers, UIMA… the list goes on ad nauseaum. To find these, and become instant
experts, all we need is Google. Expert seminars, expos and SIG’s thrive.
I was compelled to write you as I see the XML mania taking on
an even stranger turn than so called relational databases. Why is a markup
language made to masquerade as a data management capability? What is the
standards corpus thinking? The latest is DTLL or “Data Type Library Language”
for XML and RELAX NG, Compact Syntax Schema (logical/physical confusion). Thus,
validation rules, enumerations, domains and such creep into a document,
formally via standards! I am sorry, that stuff may be ok to write a web service
to compare a book price on Amazon.com versus BN.com, but please don’t tell me
it is a database management discipline.
Document is not datum. Text is not datum. Format alone is not
datum. Syntax alone is not datum. Datum is the singular of data.
Structure, syntax and format together with
semantics are data. All of these are physical except for semantics and
structure, which are logical. Management of data on sound mathematical basis
requires logical constructs that are either true or false.
XML is by definition devoid of the essential logical
ingredients. It is pure format. How XML is a data management panacea (read it
as metadata terrorism) is beyond me. Who is selling this bill of goods to which
morons? Wake up and get an education, please. The only thing I can say is, this
ocean of ignorance, has helped me make a fabulously decent living by quietly
cleaning some of the mess, unemotionally.
XML will keep me in business, off welfare and social
security. Thanks XML. Now, all I need is G.W. Bush’s tax cuts made permanent.
By the way, Dubya, please repeal the AMT as well.
From: Fabian Pascal
I think I make it very clear in my writings why the sorry
state of the industry.
You may want to read my last paper Truly Relational: What It
Really Means.
Ed. Note: I prefer
not to comment on the request to Dubya.
Posted 10/21/05
