database design

[Daniel C.]

On 6/9/05, Michael L Torrie <torriem at chem.byu.edu> wrote:
> You've now seen the greatest flaw in SQL databases.  Clearly there are
> definitely times that you need NULLs, because of the limitations of SQL
> relational theory.  The truth is SQL database really do violate several
> laws of relational database theory.  The presence of the NULL really
> means that relational algebra isn't quite "pure" in SQL.  This is a
> tradeoff that some pundits really harp on.  Of course going to the other
> extreme (like XML "databases") has problems too.
> 
> I believe that the use of NULLS can be minimized with careful database
> normalization.

So... if you're not going to use an SQL database, what options do you
have?  Other than XML.  I think using XML as a "database" is a really
bad idea.

Dan