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From: normb@sequent.UUCP (Norm Browne)
Newsgroups: comp.databases
Subject: Re: Is RDBMS unproven technology?  (Flames to follow....)
Message-ID: <40225@sequent.UUCP>
Date: 8 Aug 90 00:04:28 GMT
References: <1073@ashton.UUCP> <10371@sybase.sybase.com> <13532@ulysses.att.com> <10419@sybase.sybase.com> <13545@ulysses.att.com>
Reply-To: normb@sequent.UUCP (Norm Browne)
Organization: Sequent Computer Systems, Inc
Lines: 25

In article <13545@ulysses.att.com> swfc@ulysses.att.com (Shu-Wie F Chen) writes:
>
>            ...  Though RDBMSs (and in particular, Sybase) can use
>precompiled queries to improve performance, this does not solve the
>problem of ad-hoc queries.

Nothing solves the "problem" of ad-hoc queries (save of course more
horsepower).  I have never seen a single architecture that could
possibly serve two divergent needs (such as transaction processing and
decision support).  The common and IMO appropriate methodology for
handling these is to keep them separate, one system to handle TP and
another (periodically refreshed) to provide DSS.
 
>BTW, is there such a thing as an ad-hoc query in navigational systems?

Focus (from Information Builders) has provided this capability in the
mainframe world (ugh) for years.  The report-writer/query language is
non-procedural and can access such various data structures as VSAM,
IMS, DB2 and SQL/DS, Adabas, Total, IDMS and just about anything else
that runs on a 370.  The end user is almost completely insulated from
the underlying structure.  There are other products that provide some
of this type of functionality (Mark IV, Dyl280).


..NB