Re: Dreaming About Redesigning SQL

Bob Badour wrote:

> "Lauri Pietarinen" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message
> news:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>  
>
> > Bob Badour wrote:
> >
> >    
> >
> > > "Lauri Pietarinen" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message
> > > news:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> > >
> > >      
> > >
> > > > Bob Badour wrote:
> > > >
> > > >        
> > > >
> > > > > "Lauri Pietarinen" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message
> > > > > news:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> > > > >
> > > > >          
> > > > >
> > > > > > > > Now, the alternative COULD be to widen the domain of the DMBS.
> > > > > > > >
> > > > > > > >                
> > > > > > > Instead of widening the dbms, consider applying the dbms's
> > > > > > > computational model to a wider scope of problems.
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > >              
> > > > > > Yes, thanks for clarifying.  That's what I meant.
> > > > > >
> > > > > >            
> > > > > I observe that the ability to apply the dbms's computational model to a
> > > > > wider scope of problems suggests a single paradigm.
> > > > >
> > > > >          
> > > > It's just two different appoaches to building applications.  At the
> > > > moment we are stuck in a situation
> > > > where we have to live in two (slightly incompatible) worlds to get the
> > > > job done.
> > > >
> > > > The billion dollar question is:  could we get everything done in one
> > > > world only, the relational one?
> > > >        
> > > Of course, we can.
> > >
> > >      
> > OK,  but playing the devils advocate, how can you be so sure that it would
> >  - scale
> >  - be manageable
> >  - adapt to all situations
> >  - not to talk about being able to educate programmers to the new
> >    
> approach
>  
>
> > Say if you had a large insurance company with, say, 10000 rules, would
> > it *really* work?
> >    
>
> Yes, absolutely. It would scale at least as well as it does today. It would
> be more manageable than it is today because the important business logic
> would not be scattered among hundreds of applications. It would easily adapt
> to all situations. Why would it not?
>  
[snipped]

That is all very clear, and that is how I have understood the goal.  
But, as they say, the devil lies in the details.

The Versata product has been used to create a fairly large rule-based 
application at
American Management Systems. I wonder if anybody knows anything about 
this application
.
See this IBM red book: 
http://publib-b.boulder.ibm.com/Redbooks.nsf/RedbookAbstracts/sg246510.html?Open

regards,
Lauri Pietarinen