Re: PROV-ISSUE-311 (clarify-optionals): Clarify optional arguments in DM [prov-dm]

James,

I really like the suggestion of the semicolon:

wasGeneratedBy(id;e,a,t,attrs).

I think that extending it to the Entity/Agent/Activity would make sense.


Your suggestion for "absent values" as attributes is quite interesting, and combined with "-" as unknown would clarify the the confusion between the two.

-Tim


On Apr 18, 2012, at 7:33 PM, James Cheney wrote:

> OK, I've posted my thoughts on this, and a proposal, at:
> 
> http://www.w3.org/2011/prov/wiki/Optional_arguments
> 
> (Sorry this is a bit long, but I think it is worth being a little pedantic here).
> 
> I'd like to keep this open for discussion, but don't think it's a blocking issue.
> 
> --James
> 
> On Apr 18, 2012, at 10:43 AM, James Cheney wrote:
> 
>> Hi,
>> 
>> I have been working on the optional arguments in part 2, and I am still not sure what to write baed on what is in part 1 now.  I am trying to formulate a proposal to see if I am on the right track.  So I think this should be kept open for now (maybe it should be reassigned to prov-dm-constraints).
>> 
>> --James
>> 
>> 
>> On Apr 18, 2012, at 7:51 AM, Luc Moreau wrote:
>> 
>>> Hi Stian,
>>> Can we close this issue now?
>>> Regards,
>>> Luc
>>> 
>>> On 04/02/2012 03:58 PM, Luc Moreau wrote:
>>>> Hi Stian,
>>>> 
>>>> If you follow [1] below, you will now find our proposed answer to optional arguments.
>>>> It contains explicit links to prov-dm part 2.
>>>> 
>>>> I propose to close this issue pending your review.
>>>> Regards,
>>>> Luc
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> On 03/30/2012 04:12 PM, Luc Moreau wrote:
>>>>> 
>>>>> Hi Stian,
>>>>> 
>>>>> I have been thinking about your suggestion on optional arguments.
>>>>> I looked at all the optional arguments [1] in prov-dm.
>>>>> 
>>>>> Most of them, I believe, imply  existential quantification.
>>>>> 
>>>>> It would be nice to have this confirmed, and then we can write it up in part 2.
>>>>> 
>>>>> Luc
>>>>> 
>>>>> [1] http://dvcs.w3.org/hg/prov/raw-file/default/model/optional.html
>>>>> 
>>>>> On 13/03/2012 11:05, Provenance Working Group Issue Tracker wrote:
>>>>>> PROV-ISSUE-311 (clarify-optionals): Clarify optional arguments in DM [prov-dm]
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> http://www.w3.org/2011/prov/track/issues/311
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> Raised by: Stian Soiland-Reyes
>>>>>> On product: prov-dm
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> There seems to be some confusion over any of the 'optional' arguments in
>>>>>> PROV-DM/PROV-N.
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> It is unclear if this means that the argument is *implied* (ie.
>>>>>> existential quantification/bnodes in OWL/RDF) or not applicable/not present (NIL).
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> It might be good to go through all of the optionals in PROV-DM and make sure they make that clear.
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> For instance:
>>>>>>> Generation, written wasGeneratedBy(id,e,a,t,attrs) in PROV-N, has the following components:
>>>>>>> id: an optional identifier for a generation;
>>>>>>> entity: an identifier for a created entity;
>>>>>>> activity: an optional identifier for the activity that creates the entity;
>>>>>>> time: an optional "generation time", the time at which the entity was completely created;
>>>>>>> attributes: an optional set of attribute-value pairs that describes the modalities of generation of this entity by this activity.
>>>>>> Change to:
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> Generation, written wasGeneratedBy(id,e,a,t,attrs) in PROV-N, has the following components:
>>>>>>> id: an optional identifier for a generation, if unspecified the identifier is not known;
>>>>>>> entity: an identifier for a created entity;
>>>>>>> activity: an optional identifier for the activity that creates the entity, if unspecified activity is still implied, but unknown;
>>>>>>> time: an optional "generation time", the time at which the entity was completely created, if unspecified the time is unknown or not applicable;
>>>>>>> attributes: an optional set of attribute-value pairs that describes the modalities of generation of this entity by this activity, if unspecified an empty set is implied.
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> 
>>>>> 
>>>> 
>>> 
>>> -- 
>>> 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
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>> 
>> 
>> -- 
>> The University of Edinburgh is a charitable body, registered in
>> Scotland, with registration number SC005336.
>> 
>> 
>> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> The University of Edinburgh is a charitable body, registered in
> Scotland, with registration number SC005336.
> 
> 
> 

Received on Thursday, 19 April 2012 12:22:09 UTC