Re: What gives data meaning?

On 4 Apr 2007 10:47:47 -0700, frebe wrote:

But to the point, if a program was able to store improperly-formatted
zipcode inside the DB then whose fault is that?

what's an improperly formatted zipcode? In the US, you have 5 digits,
in the netherlands you have 4 digits and 2 characters. A zipcode of
1234 AA is properly formatted for a dutch user of the application, but
not correctly formatted for the US user of the program. Hence: context.

This thus means that if the db stores '1234AA', it can do so, and the
dutch user will happily use it. The US user can't because for the US
user it's just data, 1234 and 2 characters, it's not information
(zipcode).

If you think about it, neither zip code means anything to the database.
They're simply characters in a field.

With a proper type system or check contraints, a RDBMS could guarantee
that no invalid zip codes are stored into the database.

Where the types are stored?
[...]

This reinforces the DB can be responsible for structural, type, and
referential integrity, but it can not give meaning to its data.

A RDBMS can give meaning to its data in the same way as an application
can give "meaning" to its data.

No. RDBMS to application is like CPU.

CPU cannot give any meaning to anything. Neither RDBMS can.

--
Regards,
Dmitry A. Kazakov
http://www.dmitry-kazakov.de
.

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