Developing High Quality Data Models

Issues

"So, although we may use a screwdriver to open a tin of paint, it does not thereby become a paint-tin-opener, it remains a screwdriver because that is its intended purpose. Equally, if a screwdriver is never actually used to drive screws, it is still a screwdriver."
- to a painter, it's a paint-tin-opener except we need a common name, which is based on primary purpose, or historical reasons, or because the word sounds cool
- admittedly, "At what point did it stop being simply a stone on a beach and become a paperweight? That is, when did the paperweight, which is a state of the stone, start? In this case it is actually the act of deciding it was a paperweight that made it one. So a state of a stone is a paperweight because someone (anyone) said so, and while they said so. There are, however, limits to the power of will. If I decide that the Empire State Building would make a nice paperweight, it does not become one simply by my act of will, so the object needs to be fit for purpose as well."
- "Although the stone becoming a paperweight is a simple act of will, most functional objects acquire their function by being made or at least shaped to provide features to meet their intended purpose."

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