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Research
Section
Invitation

This page was designed for the non-scientist as well as the scientist. Please read to the end if you find it interesting.

Scientist :
      A scientist is defined only by what he does and by nothing else; not even results.

Computer Science :
      The study of computer systems.

Creating The Scientist :
      A scientist is created by God; not by education.
      ( Admittedly, a scientist who is also educated in the field is blessed. This researcher invented many methods and mechanisms for the project that would have been covered in computer science classes. But inventing them was fun and itself a fine education.)

If you are drawn to computerized logic systems,
if you see beauty that you cannot describe in a logic structure,
if you have thoughts about new systems,
if your greatest thrill is in facing the intellectual unknown,
then do not be concerned about formal training and funding.
      The AxleBase research project was begun and completed by one unfunded man with no formal education or training in computer subjects; having only a sociology degree, a few computers, and a love for logic systems.

Just do it.

Caveat :
      Expect neither recognition nor reward. Those are reserved for the salesmen in this field. But if you have fun, you will learn things that cannot be described here. Our Creator has hidden magnificent gems in plain sight for all of his children.

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Research
Section
Preface

Although AxleBase is an operational system, and although the big-name brands are now trying to build AxleBase-class systems, when the project began a decade back, such a system was undreamed-of. The questions and postulates that gave rise to AxleBase seemed like foolish and unbelievable fantasies at that time.

The following questions and postulates developed over a period of years as the project progressed. They are presented in the chronological sequence in which they arose. The first three arose almost together at around the turn of the century.

Scientific Rigor :
      A rigorous presentation is lacking. For example, the Data Entity Magnitude postulate uses the word "larger" instead of a specified quantity or bounds. However, an attempt to make the work appear more rigorous than it was in actuality might assign undue professionalism to the worker and his work.

Engineering :
      Science is a search and engineering is application. However, they were necessarilly interwoven in this research because sophisticated systems had to be built in order to address the science. The researcher shares both of them in the belief that where enjoyment of one is found in a person, the other lurks nearby.

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Research
Section
Postulates And Findings

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Research
Section
Postulates And Findings
Sub-Section
Project Resources

Postulate :
      One man can build a major software system.

A simple and easy-to-understand proposition, but the fact that our civilization has poured hundreds of billions of dollars into the development of the I.B.M., Oracle, and Microsoft database managers made this simple proposition non-trivial. The task was strongly believed, even by the researcher, to be impossible.

Finding :       True.

Proof :
      A relational database manager is one of Man's most complex engineering tasks.
      AxleBase is a relational database manager.
      It was conceived, designed, and built by one man working alone and unfunded.
      To insure the claim, even source materials such as the internet were not consulted.
      The proof is enhanced by the fact that the system's new technologies far exceeded the abilities of existing systems.
      One man can build a major software system.

Qualification :
      It was found that a completed relational database manager is so complex that even its builder cannot entirely grasp it.

Caveat :
      The task required years of seven-day weeks, so its accomplishment is not necessarily an indication of cost, but it certainly did not require hundreds of billions of dollars.

Extensibility :
      Is the finding generalizable ?
      Yes. So long as new computer technologies build systems of complex logic structures, and so long as development tools are not denied to the individual, we can expect retention of validity.

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Research
Section
Postulates And Findings
Sub-Section
Programming Language

Postulate :
      A major software system can be built with a common high-level language.

Finding :       True.

Proof :
      AxleBase was entirely built with the most common language in the world; Visual Basic version 6.
      Major systems can be built with a common language.
      ( Caveat: Contrary to marketing promises, Visual Basic version 6 is totally unlike the language that is today called Visual Basic.)

This was addressed concurrently with the previous and following postulates.

Another way to state the finding is that the only meaningful measure of a language's power is, like any tool, the productivity that it delivers to the programmer.

High-Level :
      When applied to a computer language, this term refers to the abstraction level. A high-level language generally encloses many operations within each of its commands so that programming is simplified, thereby transferring power to the programmer.

Extensibility :
      Is the finding generalizable ?
      Probably not in the near future. The business world has found that a reliable high-level language places a cap on revenue because nothing more is needed by the user and because it allows the users to compete with the manufacturer, so the production of those powerful tools has ceased, at least for a while.

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Research
Section
Postulates And Findings
Sub-Section
Platform Reguirements

Postulate :
      Complex systems can run on cheap personal computers.

Finding :       True.

Proof :
      A high-end RDBMS is one of Man's most complex systems.
      AxleBase is a high-end RDBMS.
      AxleBase runs on cheap personal computers.
      Complex systems can run on cheap personal computers.

This was addressed concurrently with the previous two postulates.

Extensibility :
      Is the finding generalizable ?
      Not only was a high-end database manager placed on personal computers by AxleBase, but AxleBase contains more advanced technology than do the big name brands. The investigator therefore believes that other kinds of complex systems can be built for very small computers.

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Research
Section
Postulates And Findings
Sub-Section
Data Entity Magnitude

Postulate :
      A relational database manager can build and manage tables larger than any conceivable size.

When postulated, a table of a few gigabytes on a mainframe was considered large.

Finding :       True.

Proof :
      AxleBase has been tested with tables in the petabyte range, is designed for the exabyte range, and can be expanded.
      A relational database manager can build and manage tables larger than any conceivable size.
      ( Although simple internet search engines and data warehouses have followed in the wake, they are not relational database managers.)

Extensibility :
      Is the finding generalizable ?
      The result was achieved entirely through software engineering so that vast tables could be built on hardware that held only a few megabytes. Even the extremes of old floppy drives are sometimes demonstrated. The result is therefore felt to be generalizable to other software systems.

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Research
Section
Postulates And Findings
Sub-Section
Platform Capacity

Postulate :
      Large data entities can be managed on a personal computer.

When postulated, a personal computer disk drive with capacity of more than a gigabyte was impressive.

Finding :       True.

Proof :
      AxleBase began building gigabyte-sized database tables.
      AxleBase runs on personal computers.
      Large data entities can be managed on a personal computer.

Extensibility :
      Is the finding generalizable ?
      See the previous postulate.

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Research
Section
Postulates And Findings
Sub-Section
Software Expansion Of Hardware

Postulate :
      Software engineering can expand hardware.

Using AxleBase for proof added confounding requirements :
      1. The mechanics of the expansion had to be transparent to the user to allow continued industry-standard use of the software.
      2. Expansion could jepordize neither data nor data returns.
      3. Expansion could not slow the database operations.

Finding :       True.

Proof :
      A permission can be given to AxleBase.
      The list consists of computers and drives that he can use.
      He uses them as he needs them.
      He distributes large data tables across them.
      He manages the distributed data thereafter.
      The effect is the expansion of local storage to any size.
      System users are unaware of this behavior.
      Software engineering can expand hardware virtually.

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Research
Section
Postulates And Findings
Sub-Section
Software Enhancement Of Hardware

Postulate :
      Software engineering can enhance hardware.

Using AxleBase for proof added confounding requirements :
      1. The mechanics had to be transparent to the database-user to allow continued industry-standard use of the software.
      2. Enhancement could jepordize neither data nor data returns.

Compared to the others, this postulate was especially daunting. There was no conceivable route to a proof at the time. It was easy to imagine solution by a huge company, but not by one man.

Finding :       True.

Proof :
      Distributibility has been added to the AxleBase system.
      He can be spread across thousands of networked computers.
      Distributed-operation test results are positive.
      In his distributed form, AxleBase directs the processing power of multiple computers toward a single database management task.
      AxleBase allows cheap computers to surpass mainframe power in some operations.
      Software engineering can enhance hardware.

( The solution was found within a highly abstracted conceptual plane making the elegantly simple solution appear more sophisticated than it is. See the following Unexpected Findings section.)

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Research
Section
Unexpected Findings

Computing Power

A totally unexpected finding from all the work was possibly the greatest: That considered software engineering can overcome hardware shortcomings. A factor in this research that is obscured by the mass market and the mass marketers is the fact that the highly sophisticated AxleBase system will run just fine on a turn-of-the-century personal computer. His development was, and is still, done entirely on a Windows 98 computer with a four gig hard drive. His test machines included Windows 95 and Windows NT machines with two gig drives until they finally died.

A result of that finding is the indication that software engineering has been a farce. This is expecially so considering the fine tools available and the billions available for funding.

Unexpected Benefits

It was found that careful engineering and careful coding frequently points to, and offers unexpected support for, additional design features that are not superfluous "bloatware".
      For example, the distribution of the database manager across multiple computers offered system reliability that transcends that of the local systems. Only minimal programming was needed to capture it.
      The "unexpected benefit" effect became so great in the project that the researcher finally just smiled and said, "Enough.".

Solution Simplicity

The research required a great deal of time and thought because of the massive size of the project, but it was found that many solutions within it are far simpler than expected. The alterations of hardware characteristics, in particular, appear far more complex than they are in actuality because the complexity lies within a highly abstracted conceptual plane where the solutions were found, investigated, simplified, and then brought back down to the implementation level.

( Careful reading of this simplicity section and the Problem Domain complexity section will show a lack of conflict because different domains are addressed therein.)

Engineering Foundations

Software engineering was found to have extremely important basic principles that are not necessarily intuitive. Simplicity is an example. This researcher frequently interrupted work to return to supporting systems to simplify them. The effort delivered several tangible benefits, but most importantly for the researcher was that the beautiful simplicity freed the mind to build more complex structures atop the simplified base; probably understandable by engineers across disciplines.

The Problem Domain

This suggestion is presented only because it is interesting (fun), and is not expected to be of any value whatsoever. It surely has been investigated already, so if you find it interesting, please look for other sources because, although I feel sure of it, this is written by somebody who was left behind by long-division.

Hypothesis : Any computer system that runs on today's digital computers can be rigorously presented mathematically in its entirety regardless of its complexity.

To qualify as a member of the mathematical NP problem domain, a problem must meet two requirements.
      It must be difficult to solve.
      The solution must be easy to prove.
( Difficult and easy are strictly defined mathematically and are extreme.)

This project addressed the management of very large data stores as a generalized problem. Because an empirically expressible solution was found in the form of the AxleBase computer system, it is now believed that the problem and its solution can be expressed in rigorous mathematical form. Statement of the problem and its solution must include the personal computer context with concommitant entity management segmentation.

The number of inter-dependent variables that were found in the generalized problem, the domain size of each, and the fact that some contain multiple dimensions indicate a problem difficulty that I feel reasonably sure places the problem in the NP class; i.e., the problem of very large data store management falls within the NP class. That assessement seems to be supported by the years of research, analysis, design, and coding that were required to achieve the solution in the form of AxleBase. Additional substantiation is indicated by the great resources, in the form of capital and/or manpower, that were needed by others to come close to duplicating the solution, and even those simplified duplications may have been built upon the AxleBase foundation.

Proof of the solution must be simple to qualify a problem as NP. In this case, the solution is proven many times per day every day in the AxleBase lab through varied empirical tests. That fact is not presented as definitive, but only as indicative of the existence of a mathematically rigorous proof. Furthermore, a generalization of Godel's incompleteness theorem seems to specify the impossibility of an impirical proof of a computer system so that it can be proven only mathematically. However, short of a mathematical proof, the empirical testing of the system intuitively feels sufficient in the interim.

Therefore, I propose that the management of very large data stores in this context represents an NP problem.

( This is not intended to apply to other business systems. The mathematical expression of an accounting system, for example, appears to be orthogonally simplistic with elementary functions regardless of its size.)

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Research
Section
Final Call

Any science that is characterized by demonstrable results, a need for intelligence, low monetary investment, and inability to exclude people, is open to the amateur. For example, amateurs still make huge contributions to astronomy, amateur geneticists are working hard, and unbelievably, the nuclear reactor of a man in Sweden recently melted down in his kitchen. (American Scientist, Jan 2012, p. 81) (Astronomy, Jan 2012, p. 52) (Sky & Telescope, Mar 2012, p. 18 )

The ease of accomplishment of the objectives in the AxleBase project indicates vast unexplored fields in computer science. Furthermore, most of the time that was expended in the project went into building the vast structure that was required. Most questions will not require such a massive software project, making them more accessible to the unfunded researcher working alone.

The effort of this project required years of sometimes working day and night, but who could complain of so much fun and personally rewarding lessons; awesome lessons outside of computer science that cannot be recounted here.

If you are inclined toward computer science, then please do not be intimidated by the money, power, and titles in the field. They must maintain the status quo against you rebels. If you accomplish nothing, then your minimal reward will be countless hours of pleasure. If you succeed in exploring new areas, you will also have the fun of watching the billionaires, professionals, and open source hobbiests follow while pretending to ignore you. Great advances in science are frequently done by the individual, whether paid or unpaid, and usually unpaid.

Have no concern about working alone. You will avoid distraction and manipulation by the more articulate and socially skilled whose objective is credit for your ability. Serious men who are busy in any scientific field avoid committees and meetings. If you are blessed with results, you will get more attention than you want.

A Suggestion :
      This is only a suggestion and is for those having little training. Take a practical hands-on approach to research.
      Having no math or computer science training, this researcher works from the engineer's perspective. Ideas, presented above as hypotheses, were addressed as logic engineering problems; in other words, build it to prove it. If one was solved (actualized) in a working model, then the hypothesis was valid. Obviously, esoteric manifold abstractions and conceptual reasoning were frequently involved, but do not let that overwhelm you because you will slowly develop the playthings that you need as you work.

Will you accomplish anything of note? You can be sure of this and only this:   Your time will not be wasted.

The point is that our God intentionally gave us a vast and wonder-filled playground in this universe.

Copyright 2003 - 2012 John Ragan

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