Re: Definition of Entity

Hi Graham,

I don't understand your comment.

Are you discussing the difference between entity and entity assertion?

Section 5 introduces different types of constructs.
Section 4 states that all representations constructed with PIDM are in 
fact assertions by the asserter.

So, when we write "An Entity represents an identifiable characterized 
thing.", we refer to the construct
entity, which allows us in PIDM to build a representation of an 
identifiable characterized thing.
That construct contains an id and attribute-value pairs.

So:
Entity: is data model construct/assertion
Thing: is the thing in world

I don't see what is not correct in the issue I raised.

Luc

On 09/02/2011 12:04 PM, Graham Klyne wrote:
> Luc,
>
> I'm picking up a small matter here to illustrate things I've said 
> previously.
>
> I notice in ISSUE 89 you say:
>
> "The conceptual model defines an entity in terms of an identifier and 
> a list of attribute-value pairs. It is indeed crucial for the asserter 
> to identify the attributes that have been frozen in a given entity."
>
> But when I look at 
> http://dvcs.w3.org/hg/prov/raw-file/default/model/ProvenanceModel.html#concept-Entity, 
> this is not what I see.  What I do see is a description of an "Entity 
> assertion" that contains a list of attribute pairs, which to my 
> reading is not the same thing at all.
>
> This is a part of the problem I have when I say the model document is 
> difficult to understand.
>
> (I'm not raising this as an issue, as I've already raised a different 
> issue to say I think that an Entity doesn't need to be so complicated.)
>
> #g

-- 
Professor Luc Moreau
Electronics and Computer Science   tel:   +44 23 8059 4487
University of Southampton          fax:   +44 23 8059 2865
Southampton SO17 1BJ               email: l.moreau@ecs.soton.ac.uk
United Kingdom                     http://www.ecs.soton.ac.uk/~lavm

Received on Friday, 2 September 2011 11:39:15 UTC