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

On 19/04/2012 00:33, James Cheney wrote:
> OK, I've posted my thoughts on this, and a proposal, at:
>
> http://www.w3.org/2011/prov/wiki/Optional_arguments

Works for me.

In response to Luc's response... I think this is *not* primarily about how easy 
it is to *parse* - LL(1) grammars and the like - but how easy it is to associate 
the different productions with semantic interpretations (and, of course, how 
easy it is for a reader to follow).  I don't have a particularly strong personal 
view of how the syntax should appear, but I do think that any change that makes 
it easier for James to express the semantics is a Good Thing.

(I'm obliquely reminded of http://www.haskell.org/haskellwiki/Wadlers_Law)

#g
--

> (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.
>>
>>
>>
>
>

Received on Thursday, 26 April 2012 11:04:53 UTC