Re: [IBMiOSS] Field Length using node.js

On Fri, Jul 15, 2016 at 5:33 PM, Kevin Adler <kadler@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

I appreciate what you're trying to say, but this explanation doesn't make
much more sense to me than the last. If it makes sense to you, then great.
A lot of people like mnemonics and they help them remember things, but I
hate them.

It's not a mnemonic in the sense of cute acronym. It was intended as a
way to *really understand* WHY the terms are used that way.

From a fundamental, conceptual way, precision *IS* tied to size. But

it's a different kind of size than what scale is. In order to STORE
more precise information, you NEED more space. There is no way around
that. There is nothing in mathematics or physics to get around that.

If you can agree that more digits are necessary to achieve more
precision, in the same way that more pixels are required to achieve
more image resolution, then it should follow naturally that the
variable which is holding those digits must, by necessity, be larger
(in terms of memory or disk space). Maybe you don't see a connection
between precision and resolution?

I still remember to this day from high school chemistry we had
to learn about VSEPR and the teacher came up with some mnemonic to
remember it. I couldn't tell you what the mnemonic is, but I can tell you
it stands for Valence Shell Electron Pair Repulsion.

No, that *IS* the mnemonic. The fact that you remember what the
letters stand for means that the mnemonic DID work for you.

I suppose we might also disagree on what "mnemonic" means. :)

I'll just continue to remember that SQL has it backwards for some inane
reason, probably because the people who created SQL were not particularly
bright. :D

They might not have been too bright. :) It could be that the IEEE
folks, and whoever came up with scientific notation, weren't too
bright either.

And though I happen to understand the terminology, I wouldn't have
chosen those words myself. I do think it's mainly just an unfortunate
accident of history. Someone came up with terms, and enough people
just happened to go along with them for long enough that they stuck.
Kind of like "football" in the U.S., where only a tiny fraction of
players ever deliberately touch the ball with their foot.

John Y.