Talk:OODBMS

For merge

I just read them both and I'd say go for it. – 24.193.221.118

JG: They are either synonymous, or at least most people understand them as synonyms. I agree with merging. – 62.168.3.222

I'm saying go for the merge. I was thinking about what I would write in the object database article but it seems that most of the content would just be repeated from the OODBMS article. They're not synonymous, I realise that, but they are inextricably linked — they're not two separate ideas, and that's why it's so hard to write one article on object databases and another on object-oriented database management systems without having extensive repetition between them. --BSTRhino 00:46, 29 August 2005 (UTC)

They should be merged. Although there is a valid distinction between a database and a DBMS, the current articles do not make that distinction. They overlap greatly (and they are both rather weak, to be honest). Also, it's in the nature of objects that there is less distinction between state and behavior than there is in the relational world. Mhkay 20:13, 4 October 2005 (UTC)

I completely agree that the articles need a lot of work, but merging two poor articles isn't going to solve that problem, and (as outlined in the No merge section below) it would only create more problems. Also, let's think about the long-term consequences here: What happens when the articles improve and the concepts are properly distinguished in the text? Do we separate the articles again?

I should also point out that both of the first two (unsigned) pro-merge comments were from anonymous users, and both comments were submitted before there was any discussion about the pros and cons of merging. I attached the submitters' IP addresses to differentiate them from BSTRhino's comments. – Ringbang 15:14, 14 October 2005 (UTC)

No merge

No merge. Not only are the two terms not synonymous, merging these articles would create an organizational inconsistency. Currently, relational database management system and relational database have separate articles; similarly, database management system and database are separate articles; federated database system and federated database are also separate articles. Meanwhile, for some reason, object-relational database is a discrete article, while ORDBMS and object-relational database management system both redirect to OODBMS.

OODBMS is not a very good article as it stands, and some of the redirects to it are inappropriate since object-oriented databases and object-relational databases are not the same thing.

By the same token, treating data models and database management systems as the same thing is like saying that automobiles are synonymous with internal combustion engines. In the case at hand, it creates a wrong impression of how we regard these entities in database theory. I say undo the merge-in-progress and concentrate on improving the individual articles. Ringbang 00:45, 5 August 2005 (UTC)

What about merging relational database management system and OODBMS with database management system instead of with object database? --R.Koot 00:51, 5 August 2005 (UTC)

Honestly, I don't think that would be a good idea. For one thing, the resulting organization would still be inconsistent. Also, database management system is a long article, and most of its size is attributable to the subsection on RDBMS's. A distinct RDBMS article already exists; dedicated articles for the other system-specific subsections also exist. The system-specific subsections of the RDBMS article are lengthy and potentially content-rich enough to have their own articles.

As it stands, no doubt there is a considerable amount of repeated information between the database management system and the wikis dedicated to each respective DBMS model (RDBMS, ORDBMS, etc.). If anything, I think the bulk of the text in the system-specific subsections of database management system should be respectively offloaded and merged into the dedicated articles. A monolithic merge into the DBMS article would make it enormous, unwieldy, and more difficult to maintain. Ringbang 14:26, 5 August 2005 (UTC)

I very much agree with you. Pavel Vozenilek 00:53, 7 August 2005 (UTC)

• No merge. Different topics, big articles . Rather, a common cleanup is required, to avoid duplicaiton. mikka (t) 00:23, 14 October 2005 (UTC)

SQL isn't relational

I am editing relational references which are actually SQL references.

Not sure what that comment is doing on this page, but it's a bad idea. Objecting to "relational database" for systems that are a practical engineering approximation to the mathematics of the relational model is like objecting to people describing wheels as circular or roads as straight.

Mhkay 20:09, 4 October 2005 (UTC)