Re: Fwd: [csvw] Remove requirement to merge metadata (#511)

++1 from me on removing merge from the spec. I've always been a -1 on it
(though an insufficiently vociferous one given my role as editor).

Rufus

On 22 April 2015 at 20:37, David Booth <david@dbooth.org> wrote:

> +1 to NOT merge metadata.
>
> Merging really is not needed.  Merging adds complexity not only to
> implementations but also to the user's mental model of how it works.  It
> makes more sense for the metadata publisher to do any necessary metadata
> merge ONCE, prior to publishing a new (merged) metadata file, rather than
> forcing all users of that metadata do merge it dynamically.
>
> Thanks,
> David Booth
>
> On 04/22/2015 02:07 PM, Ivan Herman wrote:
>
>> FYI for those in the group who may not look regularly at the github
>> issues but may consider an implementation. Thus may reduce the
>> complexity of the implementation significantly.
>>
>>
>> Ivan
>>
>> ---
>> Ivan Herman
>> Tel:+31 641044153
>> http://www.ivan-herman.net
>>
>> (Written on mobile, sorry for brevity and misspellings...)
>>
>>
>>
>> Begin forwarded message:
>>
>>  *From:* Gregg Kellogg <notifications@github.com
>>> <mailto:notifications@github.com>>
>>> *Date:* 22 April 2015 19:46:55 CEST
>>> *To:* w3c/csvw <csvw@noreply.github.com <mailto:csvw@noreply.github.com
>>> >>
>>> *Subject:* *[csvw] Remove requirement to merge metadata (#511)*
>>> *Reply-To:* w3c/csvw
>>> <
>>> reply+0007f21366923576385b67e55029666f10b7cfa2f70886cd92cf00000001114fa08f92a16
>>> <mailto:
>>> reply+0007f21366923576385b67e55029666f10b7cfa2f70886cd92cf00000001114fa08f92a16
>>> >>
>>>
>>> During the course of simplifying things subsequent to our London F2F,
>>> the role of metadata merging has narrowed to the point where it might
>>> make sense to remove it altogether.
>>>
>>> Originally, the idea was that metadata for CSVs might be pulled from
>>> several different locations (user-specified, per-file, and
>>> per-directory), but issues #448
>>> <https://github.com/w3c/csvw/issues/448>, #314
>>> <https://github.com/w3c/csvw/issues/314>, #293
>>> <https://github.com/w3c/csvw/issues/293>, and #200
>>> <https://github.com/w3c/csvw/issues/200>).
>>>
>>> Currently, the process involves either starting with metadata, in
>>> which case what is merged is the /embedded metadata/ along with
>>> user-specified options which typically just affect the /Dialect
>>> Description/, or start with a CSV, in which case the first Metadata
>>> file found relating to that CSV is used as if it were the specified
>>> metadata. With the normative rules for embedded metadata, the
>>> /embedded metadata/ ends up just being column title information, which
>>> needs to be specified either through |name| or |titles| in the
>>> metadata file in order to successfully use the CSV. This could be
>>> replaced by a mechanism which simply uses the found or specified
>>> metadata without merging /embedded metadata/ and simply ensuring that
>>> the CSV columns are compatible with the metadata columns using
>>> language from the existing merge rules.
>>>
>>> Removing metadata merging is a substantial technical and conceptual
>>> simplification, and may simplify the steps required to create a
>>> conformant implementation.
>>>
>>> This change would affect the following:
>>>
>>>   * minor changes to /Locating Metadata/ in the model document.
>>>       o /Overriding Metadata/ changes to /Overriding Dialect Description/
>>>       o /Embedded Metadata/ is removed and the discussing of embedded
>>>         metadata is moved to say that such a definition would need to
>>>         define how embedded metadata interacts with found/supplied
>>>         metadata
>>>   * Minor changes to /Processing Tables/ in the model document.
>>>       o Simplification of /Creating Annotated Tables/
>>>   * Remove per-property discussion of merging metadata in the the
>>>     metadata document
>>>   * Separate /Normalization/ from _Merging Metadata in the the
>>>     metadata document
>>>       o Describe /Normalization/ as a required step when processing a
>>>         metadata file as part /Creating Annotated Tables/ in the model
>>>         document.
>>>
>>> I'll follow up with a description of how existing test results would
>>> be changed as a result of making such a change.
>>>
>>> —
>>> Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHub
>>> <https://github.com/w3c/csvw/issues/511>.
>>>
>>>
>


-- 

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