maria-docs team mailing list archive

[Federico Razzoli <federico_raz@xxxxxxxx>]

You are right: I meant Computer Columns.

I mostly agree with you, but let me clarify the problem with Dynamic Columns. If I say "I'm dropping a dynamic column", currently this could indicate 2 different actions:
* ALTER TABLE t DROP COLUMN characteristics;
* UPDATE t SET dyncol = COLUMN_DELETE(characteristics, 'size');
In this example, I think that characteristics and size should have different names. If we want to call the container "Dynamic Column", perhaps individual values could have a different name, such as "Dynamic Attribute" or Property (again, this is just a suggestion).

Regards
Federico


--------------------------------------------
Ven 9/1/15, Ian Gilfillan <ian@xxxxxxxxxxx> ha scritto:

 Oggetto: Re: [Maria-docs] suggestions on terminology
 A: maria-docs@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
 Data: Venerdì 9 gennaio 2015, 10:45
 
 Hi
 
 On 01/03/2015 02:34 AM, Federico Razzoli
 wrote:
 > I think that we all agree that
 having a clear terminology is important, for example when
 explaining a problem or its possible solutions. However,
 there are at least 2 cases where I am not completely happy
 with the terminology used in MariaDB Docs. I will suggest
 some variations here - if a better solution is found, I will
 be happy to help editing the occurrences of those terms.
 >
 > * Virtual Columns
 >
 > The problem here is
 that VIRTUAL and PERSISTENT columns are both called virtual
 columns. Interestingly, one could say that virtual columns
 are a type of virtual columns :) Since VIRTUAL and
 PERSISTENT are keywords, the only solution is changing the
 general name. My suggestion is Calculated Columns (from SQL
 Server).
 This is a good suggestion, though I
 think you meant "Computed Columns" 
 for the term SQL Server uses.
 
 I agree that having
 "Virtual virtual" and "Persistent
 virtual" columns 
 is confusing, and I
 like the use of "Computed", a term Firebird also
 
 uses. Oracle uses the term Virtual Columns,
 and this is probably the 
 reason this usage
 was adopted, but I see that the MariaDB error messages 
 actually use the term "computed", for
 example "Constant expression in 
 computed column function is not
 allowed".
 
 I agree with
 this change (the documentation should still refer to 
 Virtual as an alternate usage so that searches
 for "Virtual Columns" are 
 still
 useful).
 > * Dynamic Columns
 >
 > While this is a good
 term, there is not an "official" term to indicate
 the table column containing virtual columns. I suggest
 Dynamic Columns Set, or Container.
 I think
 simply calling it a "dynamic column" is
 sufficient. A 
 "container" is a
 bit abstract, and "dynamic columns set" also
 needlessly 
 confusing with the actual SET
 type.
 > * Procedure
 >
 > I never seen a
 "procedure" other than "procedure
 Analyze". But this feature exists, and its name is
 easely confused with Stored Procedures. I don't have a
 suggestion here (especially because PROCEDURE is a
 keyword).
 PROCEDURE ANALYSE is used by MySQL
 and Oracle, and as you say is defined 
 as a
 keyword, so its usage is entrenched and I don't think
 makes sense 
 to change.
 
 I'll see if anyone else responds on the
 docs list, and then suggest the 
 first
 change on the main dev list. Not all developers subscribe
 here, 
 and we need to make sure everyone is
 happy with the term, rather than 
 the docs
 using it one way, and the developers another.
 
 ian
 
 _______________________________________________
 Mailing list: https://launchpad.net/~maria-docs
 Post to     : maria-docs@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
 Unsubscribe : https://launchpad.net/~maria-docs
 More help   : https://help.launchpad.net/ListHelp