On 2/28/19 7:53 PM, Michael Lewis wrote:
On 2/28/19 4:53 PM, Michael Lewis wrote:
[snip]
Would a sixth option be to re-create the column as array type
Codd is spinning in his grave...
I'd hope he would be fine with people asking questions to learn. I'm open to studying any suggested resources. I also love to learn from those with experience who are further down this path, just as I love to share my experience with people who don't from a WHERE from a HAVING. If there is anything specific you can point me to, please do chime in with something constructive.
Michael,
E. F. Codd developed the relational model, and Normal Forms to structure the attributes (columns), tuples (rows) and relations (tables). They work to prevent insert, update and delete anomalies.
Quoting him in
The Relational Model for Database Management Version 2 from 1990: "values in the domains on which each relation is defined are required to be atomic with respect to the DBMS."
Arrays are -- by definition -- not atomic, and so they fundamentally break the model that relational databases are founded upon. If you want to be a good database designer, don't use arrays.
(Darwen and Date deconstruct "atomic value" into meaninglessness by claiming that, for example, strings are arrays of characters and thus arrays are ok. I think that's bollocks.)
--
Angular momentum makes the world go 'round.