Founder, Jabr Data Labs. Author of Data Algebra (the book) building JabrDB — database software that implements Data Algebra. Free trial below. (weblink).
Cedar Park, Texas
Joined November 2007
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For fifty years we have had a mathematics of tables. We have never had a mathematics of data. Today I'm releasing a database built on one.
Normalisation is repair. You decompose because you first packed independent facts into one wide row. Data algebra never builds the wide row, so what’s left of 1NF–5NF? #SQL #databases
Normalisation is a repair procedure. You decompose because you first packed independent facts into one wide row. Data algebra never builds the wide row, so what’s left of 1NF–5NF?
robinbloor.substack.com/p/do…
The argument behind JabrDB, now as a citable paper: "A Mathematics of Data: Toward a Shape-Independent Algebra for Data Management."
One algebra — couplets, relations, clans, hordes — for tables, graphs and documents alike.
doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.23216…
A database is just a set of facts. JabrDB lets you see them that way — a native Mac app built on Data Algebra. $15, 15-day free trial. jabrdatalabs.com/download/
- Relational algebra is a genuine triumph. But a table is one shape data takes, not data itself. When tables stopped being enough, we didn't generalise the maths — we invented new containers: documents, graphs, key-value, each with its own private algebra.
- We argued in 2015 in a book I wrote with Prof Gary Sherman that one mathematics covers every shape. Start with the smallest fact there is — one thing related to another, a "couplet". A set of couplets is a relation. A set of relations is a clan. A set of clans is a horde. That's the whole tower.
- Tables, graphs, documents, spreadsheets all land on that tower without being bent. A table is a clan. A graph is a relation. A document is couplets inside couplets.
- Then a small kit of operators — composition, transpose, union, intersection and a few more — defined once at the bottom and working unchanged at every level. One composition is a join, a graph hop and a document lookup.
- JabrDB is that algebra as a program you can open. Native Mac app. Your databases are files on your own disk, and they never leave your Mac.
- It ships with Harbourside Trading, a small distributor's database to practise on, and DemoDB with lessons that walk you through the operations. CSV/JSON import and export, backups, and JustForms for building forms on your data.
- $15. Free 15-day trial, everything switched on. Apple-silicon Macs, macOS 14+. I'd value your honest reaction. jabrdatalabs.com/download/
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