
Dr. Richard Hipp calls them "Postmodern Databases" - blasdel
http://www.xaprb.com/blog/2010/06/12/postmodern-databases/
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petercooper
_He thinks that NoSQL is not a very good name for the new databases we’re
seeing these days, so he proposed a new name: postmodern databases. Why
postmodern?_

We've had similar points raised before, yet the term "NoSQL" continues to gain
in popularity. There were similar concerns around "AJAX" and "Web 2.0" - both
survived and are only just starting to be replaced.

Community-coined terms like NoSQL, AJAX, and Web 2.0 _start_ as literal,
descriptive terms. But after a while they become "brands" that represent a
myriad of concepts and ideas that do not necessarily fit into their original
definition. This is because they're not controlled or maintained by a single
entity (like, say, "brands" like Redis, Twitter, Ruby or Django are).

(BTW, PomoDB would be a cool name for a new "NoSQL" database system ;-))

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amalcon
I still haven't figured out what Web 2.0 is supposed to be. The closest I've
been able to figure is that it's either a pure buzzword, or synonymous with
DHTML.

If NoSQL goes the way of AJAX, that's fine. It's not a very good term, but at
least it means something useful. If it goes the way of Web 2.0, no thanks --
I'd much prefer a different term, any different term, so long as it's actually
descriptive.

~~~
SkyMarshal
Web 2.0 = Ajax + Social Media, basically. Websites that don't have to refresh
the entire page to conduct user interaction, plus social
news/networking/blogging/etc.

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petercooper
Don't forget gradients and rounded corners..

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vault_
The lack of sharp edges are what make it safe for everyday users!

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jamespitts
I love the term. It has clarity, and also hints of self-mockery.

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simulacra_and_Simulation>

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olefoo
If I have to start reading Heidegger again just to understand what my database
is doing I will be seriously freaked out.

I am fairly sure that Jaques Derrida is an alias for __why_the_lucky_stiff.

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winxordie
They disappeared off the face of the earth about 5 years apart, but other than
that, I can't tell too much of a difference. :)

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mjw
The thing that bugs me about the 'NoSQL' name is that it seems to lump
together "relational vs key-value/object store" and "centralised vs
distributed" as one and the same distinction. They're not.

Databases based on the relational model can be distributed, 'post-modern' as
this guy puts it, too.

There's some interesting work by logician/comp-sci/AI folks in this area,
applying epistemic (and other modal) logics to multi-agent knowledge base
scenarios, but I think it got a bit forgotten about because of its association
with AI (think: lots of robots going around gathering knowledge which may or
may not be consistent with eachother) rather than more mundane things like
distributed relational databases.

Here's a course I remember taking on the subject, which might interest anyone
who thinks 'post-modern' databases or models of knowledge are interesting:
[http://web.comlab.ox.ac.uk/teaching/courses/multiagent/index...](http://web.comlab.ox.ac.uk/teaching/courses/multiagent/index.html)

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artsrc
Are there any good distributed relational implementations?

Joins and referential integrity seems to add difficulty to the distribution
problem.

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adelevie
By this logic, unit testing is not postmodern :)

