ON CODD'S BOOK AND DBMS PRODUCTS

From: Alan Seltzer

Date: 9 Dec 2005

Two questions:

1. Your website suggests that any user from novice to expert ought to be able to understand the issues discussed. I need a more specific indication as to the likelihood that a moderately informed layman like myself would be able to benefit from Codd's writings in particular. Would a typical Ph.D. (University of Chicago, unrelated field) be able to benefit from Codd's book, THE RELATIONAL MODEL FOR DATABASE MANAGEMENT: VERSION 2 (Addison-Wesley, 1990)?

2. While you probably regard all available products as bad, can it be said perhaps that Sybase products—for example, SQL Anywhere Studio Developer Edition—are not quite as bad as some others? (Among other things, useful chapters of its help files discuss the relational model and database design in detail). Or do you perhaps regard Sybase products as even worse than some others?

From: Fabian Pascal

Probably not. The very reason Chris, Hugh, I and David write our material is to make Codd's writings and implications thereof accessible to practitioners.

Can't pronounce on products, I do not follow them. But they are all fundamentally flawed due to SQL and other misdesigns, and the differences between them are not significant at the foundation level. They all have some pros and some cons and my guess is there is no one that overwhelmingly tops the others.

Posted 2/10/06