August 2014
Advanced
560 pages
15h 32m
English
The key to the problems identified in the previous chapter is to recognize that intervals are best thought of as objects in their own right, instead of just as pairs of points (“from/to pairs”). The chapter discusses some immediate consequences, and advantages, of this state of affairs. It then discusses in detail the concept of an interval data type and the concept of the associated point type, stressing in particular the role of the corresponding successor function. The chapter also stresses the fact that intervals aren’t necessarily temporal in nature—in fact, intervals in general are a widely applicable and useful abstraction. The chapter concludes with a brief discussion of relations having two or more interval attributes. ...