That’s technically correct, and I think the author would say he’s aware of that definition.
The article as I read it is trying to make a broader point, that there are underlying mathematical principles that inspired Codd’s relational model.
I’ve never had cause to explore it, but my understanding is that there’s nothing in those principles that require tables/rows of tuples.
One goal of the article seems to be to inspire a curiosity in knowledgeable readers: what happens if you build a document database that also supports the same mathematical principles that inspired the relational model?
The article as I read it is trying to make a broader point, that there are underlying mathematical principles that inspired Codd’s relational model.
I’ve never had cause to explore it, but my understanding is that there’s nothing in those principles that require tables/rows of tuples.
One goal of the article seems to be to inspire a curiosity in knowledgeable readers: what happens if you build a document database that also supports the same mathematical principles that inspired the relational model?