Follow @DBDebunk Follow @ThePostWest

Note: Minor edits 3/29/13.

In an online discussion initiated by the question Does It Matter If Data is BIG or not? MQ commented:

I still feel the discussion around Relational Modelling is confusing the point, and should be put aside until the problem is understood. If a company came to me and said 'Help me solve my big data issue - I have a billion emails I want to analyse' my answer is not 'just create a logical model using relational model theory' because this does not supply an answer. I will make more ground if I say 'right, lets discuss what this is, what technology you have, where the fail points and choke points are, etc and model (relational model) that as part of the process'.

I've built data models for 25 years (all levels) and firmly believed in Relational Theory across this entire period, so I am not saying drop Relational Models, just saying don't start there. Interestingly, I don't get any backlash against relational modelling using this approach - so perhaps the issues mentioned are about how the concept is sold to clients (a weapon rather than an intellectual concept)?

Follow @DBDebunk Follow @ThePostWest

1.
The 'Quote of the Week' was posted on the QUOTES page.

2.
A 'To Laugh or Cry' item was posted on the LAUGH/CRY page.

Here's an exchange between its author and myself:

I was thinking about database skills. When I started in the nineties, and systems were moving from Cobol to RDBMS, database and design skills were really valuable. Now, as much as we know that DB skills are important and valuable, it seems to be the GUI that is more important. At least in management's mind.  :(  At my alma mater, no student is studying the database track now. They either do app development, or networking. When does this mean for the future?

That is why the new generation of products are either applications and files, or labeled DBMSs when they are really application-specific DBMSs. Many practitioners do not distinguish between DBMS, applications, network and OS functions. It's all one big lump.

To which I add: This is also the reason application developers like object-orientation: it is a programming, not data "paradigm".

3.
Links to online exchanges I participated in were posted on the FP ONLINE page.

4.
The following Advanced Database Design and Implementation - Course Outline requires no comments for the reader possessing foundation knowledge. It is good evidence of academia pursuing industry fads rather than leading it with science.

This year the course will examine the following two contemporary fields in the database systems area: XML Data Model and XML Databases and Data Warehousing.

XML Data Model and XML Databases will comprise approximately 65% of the course. There, we shall consider topics such as: XML documents, Document Type Definition (DTD) and XML Schema, XML constraints, XML query languages, Types of XML Databases, Mapping XML data to relational databases, Publishing relational databases as XML documents, and what research is going on in the XML database area. The practical experience will be achieved through the use of XML processors like xmllint and the native XML database management system eXist.
...
By the end of the course, students should be able to:

• Design well formed XML documents that are valid with regard to a given DTD or XML Schema and thus develop the ability to solve practical engineering problems (BE graduate attribute 3(f)),
• Analyze a part of the real world and design a corresponding XML DTD or Schema in XML normal form and thus develop the ability to formulate and build efficient models of complex systems using principles of engineering science and mathematics (BE graduate attribute 3(b) and BE graduate attribute 3(c)),
• Design faithful models of a part of the real world using XML database constraints and thus develop the ability to apply mathematical and engineering science in solving engineering problems (BE graduate attribute 3(a)),
• Use available web sources to learn about the eXist XML database management system and define XQuery queries and XUPdata updates of an almost arbitrary complexity against a native XML database and thus develop the ability to look for additional information from pertinent sources (BE graduate attribute)...

Interestingly, the pre-requisite is familiarity with    "Relational Data Model, Structured Query Language (SQL), Relational Functional Dependencies and Normal Forms, PostgreSQL Data Base Management System."

Can't figure out why.

5.
On the lighter side: Models and met-a-date.

Follow @DBDebunk Follow @ThePostWest

Re-write:

• Normalization and Further Normalization Part 1: Databases Representing What
• Normalization and Further Normalization Part 2: If You Need Them, You're Doing It Wrong

 

Follow @DBDebunk Follow @ThePostWest

1.
The Quote of the Week was posted on the QUOTES page.

2.
A 'To Laugh or Cry' item was posted on the LAUGH/CRY page. The perils of online business modeling and database design and the time and effort imposed by the absence of foundation knowledge.

3.
Links to online exchanges I participated in were posted on the FP ONLINE page.

4.
The SCHEDULE page is now displaying an online monthly calendar which will be updated with my public seminars/lectures, with links to the details. The direct link is
http://pub11.bravenet.com/calendar/show.php?usernum=894201442.

5.
Recommendations:

• Added Nijssen's CONCEPTUAL SCHEMA AND RELATIONAL DATABASE DESIGN to the recommended books (available via the home page). It is, in my opinion, the best that can be done at the informal conceptual/business level.

•  Mosley, B., and Marks, P., Out of the Tar Pit. A good read on complexity and the benefits of the relational model (h/t Eric Kaun). 

• North, D., Our Obsession with Efficiency. A slide presentation on the subject.

6.
Miscellaneous:

• Somebody was endorsed for 'Thought Leadership'. I guess this reflects the increasing rarity of thinking and thinkers. Time to appoint Chief Thought Officers.

• Solutions Developer. An excellent example of the factotum approach to hiring and the exclusive demand for tool experience. Consider the probability that one person can be sufficiently competent in all the tools, without any guarantee of foundation knowledge. Related: A Data Warehouse quiz.

• Making Friends with Science provides some context for the previous two items:

Making friends is truly the beginning of making lasting memories. To make friends with science is truly to start with making good friends that make lasting memories about science. I'm starting a new revolution in the way science will be made socially for the community and ask the community to step in and help make science fun, engaging, real, social and most importantly lasting friendships.

Follow @DBDebunk Follow @ThePostWest

See series starting at:

The Principle of Orthogonal Database Design Part I

Follow @DBDebunk Follow @ThePostWest

1.
The Quote of the Week was posted on the QUOTES page.

2.
A 'To Laugh or Cry' item was posted on the LAUGH/CRY page.

3.
Links to online exchanges I participated in were posted on the FP ONLINE page.

4. 
Looking for non-proprietary reference Semantic Data Model of Distribution Requirement Plan 

Is there any standard LDM exists for Automotives like CLDM or FSLDM 

Require database for banking customers  

Database table normalization

Detect a pattern? 

5.
My predicted consequences of the BigData and BI fad come to pass. On the one hand: 

Big Data News Roundup From Porn to Data-ism

On the other:

Trends Shows Problems of Big Data Without Context

What is the purpose of DENSITY in STATISTICS

Follow @DBDebunk Follow @ThePostWest

See series starting at:

The Principle of Orthogonal Database Design Part I