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From: ark@ut-sally.UUCP (Arthur M. Keller)
Newsgroups: net.database,net.micro.pc
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Knowledgeman/2 database product
Message-ID: <4373@ut-sally.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 5-Mar-86 21:35:49 EST
Article-I.D.: ut-sally.4373
Posted: Wed Mar  5 21:35:49 1986
Date-Received: Fri, 7-Mar-86 08:11:33 EST
References: <1311@hcrvx1.UUCP> <564@whuts.UUCP> <4344@ut-sally.UUCP> <565@whuts.UUCP>
Reply-To: ark@sally.UUCP (Arthur M. Keller)
Organization: U. Texas CS Dept., Austin, Texas
Lines: 25
Xref: watmath net.database:237 net.micro.pc:7310

Sterkel replied to my question asking what he meant by graduating from
relational databases to real databases.  Relational databases can
store the necessary information to handle one-one, one-many, and
many-many relationships.  I wonder why you say "networking" databases
as opposed to network databases.  Network databases may explicitly
support such connects but require the user to explicitly navigate
through the database in a procedural manner.  The relational database
approach allows for non-procedural navigation of substantially the
same record types (but calls them "relations" instead.

It is a valid criticism that current relational database systems are
not as efficient as some non-relational DBMSs.  It is a valid
criticism that "classical" relational DBMSs have less "semantics"
than, say, network databases.  But in network databases, all
retrievals involve writing programs, while this need not be the case
in a relational DBMS.  Ad hoc queries are often allowed in relational
DBMSs, but rarely allowed in network or hierarchical DBMSs.  In time,
commercial relational DBMSs will become more efficient, in parallel
with research technology advancing beyond.

Arthur
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