Re: [GRAPHS] g-box, g-snap, and g-text

Yes, completely.   (Well, I'm not sure about the apples, but that's
really an aside.)

Sorry I oversimplified on the computer-memory analogy.  You're right,
the values in the location would be the snap, not the text.  

    -- Sandro

On Fri, 2011-02-25 at 17:37 +0000, Nathan wrote:
> Sandro / Ivan,
> 
> AIUI, a g-box is a "box" which contains triples, the contents of the box 
> can change over time, and the contents of the box at a particular point 
> in time form a Set of Triples, a g-snap (a snapshot of the contents, the 
> value of the box at time t, the state of the box at time t), g-snaps can 
> be represented lexically in a data format so that they can be 
> transferred over the wire, these serialized g-snaps are called g-texts.
> 
> some clarifications to sandro's text following my understanding:
> 
> Sandro Hawke wrote:
> > On Fri, 2011-02-25 at 17:30 +0100, Ivan Herman wrote:
> >> Another way of putting it is that a g-text is a special form of a
> >> g-box, which has the peculiarity of representing a g-snap in a text
> >> file. 
> > 
> > No, a g-text is not a special form of a g-box.  A g-text is a fixed
> > sequence of characters or bytes; a g-box is a potentially-mutable
> > collection.   If two g-texts are the same sequence, they are the same
> > g-text; that's not at all true of g-boxes.
> > 
> > In a low-level language, like assembly or C, g-box would be some area of
> > memory, while a g-text would be some values that might be stored in that
> > memory.
> 
> a g-box would be some area of memory, a g-snap would be the set of 
> values stored in that memory at a point in time, and a g-text would be a 
> serialization of that set of values.
> 
> > Computer files are boxes, not texts, in this terminology -- they can
> > change, and they have an identity separate from their contents.
> 
> Indeed, and g-texts have their own identity separate to both the 
> contents of the box, and the box it self.
> 
> Relating to real life, let's say it's an apple box a-box:
> 
> An a-box contains apples, the contents of the a-box at a particular 
> point in time is an a-snap, a written list or photo of the contents at 
> that point in time is an a-snap.
> 
> Sorry to be a bit pedantic here, but I feel it's critical to keep clear 
> distinctions between the three concepts
> 
> box: a container
> snap: contents of the box at a point in time (or, the state of the box, 
> or, the set of things in the box - set in the mathematical sense)
> text: a representation of a snap
> 
> Best,
> 
> Nathan
>

Received on Friday, 25 February 2011 17:44:08 UTC