Re: Is _this_ what is meant by "Entity"?

Hi Graham,
Thanks for this  attempt.
In short, it's very close to what is intended, though I think there are 
a few details
that don't seem exactly right (also see what Jim mentioned in a separate 
email).
You and Satya made comments on when such assertion holds, and I was planning
to make the characterization interval (or similar) more explicit.
Cheers,
Luc

PS. Thread related to ISSUE-85

On 09/03/2011 07:32 AM, Graham Klyne wrote:
> Luc,
>
> I've been reflecting on our discussion, and I think I may have got to 
> the root of my misunderstanding.  To test this, I propose below an 
> alternative phrasing of the definition of "Entity" - can you confirm 
> whether or not this reflects what you mean:
>
> ----
>
> An entity is an assertion about a characterized thing.  Using the 
> Provenance Abstract Syntax Notation, an entity is represented as:
>
>   entity(e,[a1:v1, a2:v2, ...])
>
> where "e" is a name that denotes the characterized thing about which 
> provenance is expressed, and the "ai:vi" are assertions about 
> attributes of that thing. The entity is true exactly when all of the 
> attribute assertions are true of the named thing.
>
> For example, the entity represented by:
>
>   entity(e0, [ type: "File", location: "/shared/crime.txt", creator: 
> "Alice" ])
>
> might be interpreted as asserting that the thing denoted by "e0" is a 
> file whose file system location is "/shared/crime.txt", and which was 
> created by "Alice".
>
> ----
>
> If this correctly reflects what you mean by "entity", then I have two 
> specific comments about the present text:
>
> (1) the term "entity" is confusing when used in this way.  My 
> interpretation and understanding of this word leads me to expect an 
> entity to *be* the thing about which provenance is asserted, not the 
> assertion.
>
> (2) the phrase "An Entity represents an identifiable characterized 
> thing" is confusing, in that the use of "represents" here is not the 
> usage that I would expect.  Based on the above, I would say instead 
> "An Entity represents an assertion about an identifiable characterized 
> thing".
>
> Also, if the above text reflects your intended meaning, then many of 
> my other comments have their roots in this misunderstanding.
>
> #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 Monday, 5 September 2011 07:09:02 UTC