- From: Alexandre Passant <alexandre.passant@deri.org>
- Date: Sat, 14 Nov 2009 00:48:12 -0500
- To: Lee Feigenbaum <lee@thefigtrees.net>
- Cc: Paul Gearon <gearon@ieee.org>, SPARQL Working Group <public-rdf-dawg@w3.org>
On 14 Nov 2009, at 00:41, Lee Feigenbaum wrote: > Then again, that's what COALESCE means also, so this is a case of > once I think about it, none of the names make sense to me. > > :) > Based on your previous email "COALESCE (or whatever it's called) takes 1 or more arguments and returns the first of its arguments that is bound to a value (i.e. first argument that is not unbound and not a type error)." So what about FIRST_BOUND or something explicit like that ? Alex. > Lee > > Alexandre Passant wrote: >> On 13 Nov 2009, at 19:05, Paul Gearon wrote: >>> On Fri, Nov 13, 2009 at 6:59 PM, Steve Harris <steve.harris@garlik.com >>> > wrote: >>>> On 13 Nov 2009, at 13:01, Andy Seaborne wrote: >>>> >>>>> I don't find the name COALESCE very helpful. >>>>> >>>>> None of these seem good but they are better to me: >>>>> >>>>> VAL >>>>> VALUE >>>>> FIRST >>>>> FIRST_VAL >>>>> PROTECT >>>>> SAFE >>>> >>>> None of these float my boat, but out of interest, what's the >>>> source of your >>>> dislike for COALESCE? I find it pretty obvious, but then I've >>>> been using SQL >>>> for too long. >>> >>> Personally, I'd never heard of this function, and it's been >>> completely >>> opaque to me. I've come back to it a few times now (each time >>> after a >>> break of a couple of weeks) and every time I've had to look up some >>> documentation to remind myself of what it meant. >>> >>> But then, I haven't used SQL much in recent years. >> I was in the same case, it took me a while before figuring out what >> that function what about. >> It may be obvious from people with an SQL background but it's >> apparently, based on the feedback here, not a relevant name for >> people that don't have such background. >> So, do we in general want to stick to SQL naming or focus on >> something easy to understand for people coming to SPARQL without >> any bg on SQL ? >> I'd prefer the second option and then chose a more relevant name >> (as MELD for instance, or synonyms as FUSE) >> Best, >> Alex. >>> >>> Regards, >>> Paul Gearon >>> >> -- >> Dr. Alexandre Passant >> Digital Enterprise Research Institute >> National University of Ireland, Galway >> :me owl:sameAs <http://apassant.net/alex> . -- Dr. Alexandre Passant Digital Enterprise Research Institute National University of Ireland, Galway :me owl:sameAs <http://apassant.net/alex> .
Received on Saturday, 14 November 2009 05:48:54 UTC