Re: AIS: Databases

From: John I Jones <jijones@ix.netcom.com>

Patrick O'Connor wrote:
> 
> Not really.  The beauty of the database is that, once you have all the
> elements incorporated, you can ask any question that occur to you.  Lists
> by color, by date, by hybridizer, by a particular parent, and by
> combinations of these, all become quickly possible.  The number of items of
> information about any particular hybrid are very limited and organization
> of the database is simple.  The data entry and editing would be very
> tedious and require dedication and attention to detail.  But in the hands
> of someone who knows how to frame the queries, the answers to many
> questions become fairly simple.  With such a tool at hand, one's mind will
> discover questions that had not occurred before, and the answers will be
> accessible.  I wonder which pink Louisiana irises grow to less than 20
> inches in height?  Hmmm.......

Well yes, but it would seem that you are making some assumptions about the
defined fields of the data.

If the entries were just one long record, I don't think the typical keyword
search engines (e.g., Alta Vista) would give you the results you want. On the
other end of the spectrum, we have database languages and programs like
Oracle. We have to remember that most of the people making inquiries will not
know how to frame database queries well, and in the interest of keeping it
simpler for them, the overall capabilities of the system might be less. After
all someone sophisticated in SQL could easily import the data into another
data base and use a very powerful search engine.



John                     | "There be dragons here"
                         |  Annotation used by ancient cartographers
                         |  to indicate the edge of the known world.

John Jones 
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