There's that old phrase, "master of my own domain", and it is particularly useful in relational databases. While working in the COBOL oriented DB2 world of Fortune X00, I was continually rebuffed whenever I suggested the use of check constraints. I had to sneak them into some of my lesser databases, but that was cool.
In addition to regular check constraints, there is the notion of domains. They're sometimes referred to as user defined types. Here's a Postgres based treatment. Interestingly, Postgres has better support than DB2; PG allows check constraints while DB2 doesn't. Once again, the author's make my point (admittedly, the point made by anyone who takes RDBMS seriously) that control of the data in the database, rather than relying on each application code. Bulk loads, with most engines, enforce constraints so batch data transfers are a breeze. Not to mention that client code can be in any convenient language. And that a smart generator can use domain/UDT definitions whilst doing its thing. I've said that before, I believe.
Despite what the reactionaries assert, the world is not flat nor is it hierarchical. The world is relational. Infinite granularity yields infinite complexity.
Vaccinated ≠ Not Infectious
$536,800,000 MARF™(party like it's 1829)
-- New York Slammers, so far/2024 [GA and The Feds still to come]
-- New York Slammers, so far/2024 [GA and The Feds still to come]
Covid-19 has killed at least 1,123,836 people (as of 20 March 2023, final update)
Scientists aren't vocal enough about science. There are large groups of people who think scientists are all frauds and who don't
believe in science, and they're being cultured by some of our far right-wing politicians, religious leaders and community leaders. -- Drew Weissman/2022
To date, Microsoft is stating that organizations testing In-Memory OLTP have
seen transaction speeds improve by up to 30 times compared to past
performance, with the best performance gains achieved when the business
logic resides in the database and not in the applications.
-- Jonathan Watts/2015 [my emphasis]
-- Jonathan Watts/2015 [my emphasis]
I have had to explain and re-explain and re-explain and re-explain, you know, how relational databases work, what is an eigenvector,
what is dimensionality reduction.
-- Christopher Wylie/2018
... but Flash-based storage has such a different performance profile from rotating media, that I suspect that it will end up having
a large impact on filesystem design. Right now, most filesystems tend to be designed with the latencies of rotating media in mind.
-- Linus Torvalds/2007
-- Chris Date/2009
This week's thought
[The intelligence community] argued that [the restrictive amendment] would cripple the program because they typically use it before there is enough evidence to meet a standard of probable cause for a warrant, like early in investigations when they are trying to learn more about a phone number or an email account found to be in contact with a suspected foreign spy or terrorist. -- Charlie Savage/2024 [IOW, let's catch the thief before the horse is out of the barn - the MARF™(party like it's 1829) traitor's worst nightmare]
In a time of SSD, multi-core/processor, two terabyte memory and Optane App Direct Mode machines, there is no reason not to
build from BCNF data. Time to do what Dr. Codd demonstrated. Technology has finally caught up with the maths.
About
- Robert Young
- Been doing databases, both relational and others, as well as operations research since Hector was a Pup.
Shameless Plug
I know a little something about SQL, DB2 (preferably LUW, z/OS if the money's right), Oracle, SQL Server, Postgres, and database design in general. Mentoring/teaching/consulting on a short term basis, too. And a bit of stat analysis if it's R.
gnuoytr at rcn dot com.
gnuoytr at rcn dot com.
1 comment:
I think the link is broken ("Here's a Postgress")
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