"data" not "datums"

On 8/1/17 04:22, mahsh.baheti@gmail.com wrote:

The following documentation comment has been logged on the website:

Page: https://www.postgresql.org/docs/9.4/static/datatype-json.html
Description:

In the section
https://www.postgresql.org/docs/9.4/static/datatype-json.html

Sub-section:
8.14.2. Designing JSON documents effectively

Original text:
"but having a predictable structure makes it easier to write queries that
usefully summarize a set of "documents" (datums) in a table."

Suggested text:
"but having a predictable structure makes it easier to write queries that
usefully summarize a set of "documents" (data) in a table."

"datum" means something specific in PostgreSQL, and several of those are
most usefully "datums". "data" doesn't really convey the same meaning here.

--
Peter Eisentraut http://www.2ndQuadrant.com/
PostgreSQL Development, 24x7 Support, Remote DBA, Training & Services

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On Mon, Aug 7, 2017 at 1:15 PM, Peter Eisentraut
<peter.eisentraut@2ndquadrant.com> wrote:

"datum" means something specific in PostgreSQL, and several of those are
most usefully "datums". "data" doesn't really convey the same meaning here.

We're not the first one to use "datums" like this. I think of it as
being like the use of "people" versus the use of "persons".

--
Peter Geoghegan

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On Mon, Aug 7, 2017 at 1:15 PM, Peter Eisentraut <
peter.eisentraut@2ndquadrant.com> wrote:

On 8/1/17 04:22, mahsh.baheti@gmail.com wrote:

The following documentation comment has been logged on the website:

Page: https://www.postgresql.org/docs/9.4/static/datatype-json.html
Description:

In the section
https://www.postgresql.org/docs/9.4/static/datatype-json.html

Sub-section:
8.14.2. Designing JSON documents effectively

Original text:
&quot;but having a predictable structure makes it easier to write

queries that

usefully summarize a set of &quot;documents&quot; (datums) in a

table.&quot;

Suggested text:
&quot;but having a predictable structure makes it easier to write

queries that

usefully summarize a set of &quot;documents&quot; (data) in a

table.&quot;

"datum" means something specific in PostgreSQL, and several of those are
most usefully "datums". "data" doesn't really convey the same meaning
here.

Peter, ​While your point is accurate the fact is that this seems to be the
only place in the user-facing documentation, aside from "hacker targeted"
material, that the word "datum" in the PostgreSQL sense is used. However,
changing it to "data" doesn't do it for me either. Reading the entire
paragraph, including the first introduction of the term "JSON documents",
leads me to think that the best solution here is to remove the
double-quotes surrounding "documents" and remove the parenthetical
entirely. I'm not seeing how it adds or clarifies anything here - the
reader has been told that an alias for "json value" is "document".
Introducing the concept of "datum" here is just going to prompt questions
such as this.

David J.