CompuServe Messages

Rich let me throw out a couple of other observations. While, I've been hacking with database software for years, I'm still a CD-ROM novice (but learning a lot from you and everyone else here every day!). So, I'm really interested in reactions to these observations. First, I see two general types of data that can be used to describe something that we want to understand: text data and attribute data. For example, information on movies consist of descriptions and critiques (text data) and attributes like title, year, type, rating… etc. While text data generally have little structure, attribute data do. Therefore IMO, the optimum method for storing each type of data, and the optimum techinques for searching and retrieving specific data from each type, differ. For example, IMO, attribute data, because of its structure should be stored in tables (database relations with rows and columns) and managed with database technology. That's what the database community has been optimizing for years — by utilizing keys and powerful indexing technology, relating associated data in different tables, etc. And, they have been concerned about minimizing disk accesses too, since even on a fast hard drive, disk access time is the biggest performance inhibitor. OTOH, the typical database management system doesn't lend itself to text data management. And, IMO, here's where the full-text-search community has developed applicable technology. While I'm still learning about this technology it seems very, very, powerful too. Now, here's my "rub." It appears that the database-technology folks, in general, have ignored CD-ROM media and left CD-ROM database management to the full-text-search-technology folks. And, as a result, I see full-text-search technology being used to search and retrieve data based on its attributes — where I would think database technology would provide a much more optimum solution. One of my favorite quotes is: "If the only tool that you have is a hammer, then every problem becomes a nail." Maybe it fits here. What ya think? Bill