Discussion


Note that the concept is applicable only to relations which support valid time, as facts valid in the future cannot be stored otherwise.

The choice of ``predictive'' over ``proactive'' is due to the more frequent every-day use of ``predictive,'' making it a more intuitive name (+E8). In fact, ``proactive'' is absent from many dictionaries. Tuples inserted into a predictive bitemporal relation instance are, in effect, predictions about the future of the modeled reality. Still, ``proactive'' is orthogonal to ``retroactive'' (-E1).