Re: Thing and Class

Dear Colleagues,
Suppose it will be very helpful for the "thing-class" discussion to look
at the Matthew West's ECM !! -
http://www.tc184-sc4.org/wg3ndocs/wg3n1328/lifecycle_integration_schema.html

Look at some of his Entities : --->>
Go to Diagram 9    cause_of_event
Go to Diagram 2  class
Go to Diagram 18  class_of_EXPRESS_information_representation
Go to Diagram 2  class_of_abstract_object
Go to Diagram 10  class_of_activity
Go to Diagram 23  class_of_approval
Go to Diagram 23  class_of_approval_by_status
Go to Diagram 8  class_of_arranged_individual
Go to Diagram 7  class_of_arrangement_of_individual
Go to Diagram 7  class_of_assembly_of_individual
Go to Diagram 12  class_of_assertion
Go to Diagram 8  class_of_atom
Go to Diagram 8  class_of_biological_matter
Go to Diagram 10  class_of_cause_of_beginning_of_class_of_individual
Go to Diagram 10  class_of_cause_of_ending_of_class_of_individual
Go to Diagram 3  class_of_class
-------------------------------------------------
thing

A <thing> is anything that is or may be thought about or perceived,
including material and non-material objects, ideas, and actions.
Every <thing> is either a <possible_individual>, or an <abstract_object>.
NOTE 1 Every <thing> is identifiable within a system. System identifiers
created by other systems and received as part of a data exchange may be
stored for future reference as an identification, referring to the
originating organisation or system.
NOTE 2 Every example provided for other entity data types declared in this
schema is also an example of <thing>.

EXPRESS specification:

ENTITY thing

ABSTRACT SUPERTYPE OF  (ONEOF(possible_individual, abstract_object));

id   :   STRING;
record_copy_created   :   OPTIONAL
representation_of_Gregorian_date_and_UTC_time;
record_created   :   OPTIONAL representation_of_Gregorian_date_and_UTC_time;
record_creator   :   OPTIONAL possible_individual;
record_logically_deleted   :   OPTIONAL
representation_of_Gregorian_date_and_UTC_time;
why_deleted   :   OPTIONAL class_of_information_representation;
UNIQUE

UR1   :   id;
END_ENTITY;

Attribute definitions:
id   :   An identifier of the <thing> for the purposes of record
management within a system.
record_copy_created   :   The date and time when this copy of the record
was created in the current system. This attribute shall have a value only
when the current system is not the originating system.
record_created   :   The date and time on which this record was first
created in its originating system.
record_creator   :   The person, organisation or system that first created
this record in the originating system.
record_logically_deleted   :   The date and time that this record was
logically deleted.
why_deleted   :   The reason why the record was logically deleted.

NOTE: Logical deletion means that whilst the record is still available in
the system as a matter of historical record, it is no longer considered a
valid statement. That is to say it is considered that it was never true.

References (15):
Name  Type  Referred through  Express-G
abstract_object  Entity
Supertype
 Diagram 1
class_of_multidimensional_object  Entity
Attribute 'parameters'
 Diagram 4
class_of_relationship_with_related_end_1  Entity
Attribute 'related'
 Diagram 12
class_of_relationship_with_related_end_2  Entity
Attribute 'related'
 Diagram 12
class_of_representation_of_thing  Entity
Attribute 'represented'
 Diagram 17
classification  Entity
Attribute 'classified'
 Diagram 2
functional_mapping  Entity
Attribute 'input'
Attribute 'result'
 Diagram 15
involvement_by_reference  Entity
Attribute 'involved'
 Diagram 9
multidimensional_object  Entity
Attribute 'elements'
 Diagram 4
other_relationship  Entity
Attribute 'end_1'
Attribute 'end_2'
 Diagram 11
possible_individual  Entity
Supertype
 Diagram 6
recognition  Entity
Attribute 'recognized'
 Diagram 9
representation_of_thing  Entity
Attribute 'represented'
 Diagram 16
Go to Diagram 7  class_of_class_of_composition
Go to Diagram 19  class_of_class_of_definition
Go to Diagram 19  class_of_class_of_description
..................................

Best,
Leonid Ototsky - http://ototsky.mgn.ru/it


>
> Hi Richard et al.
>
> Here is an informal interpretation of some of the spec written in plain
> English.
>
> Class stands for classification.
> We use Class to classify things.
> Class is a set of Things.
> "I am a Human" - I just classified myself as Human (I hope I'm right).
> "I am a Thing" - that is true for everything.
> Human is a classification of all people.
> Thing is a classification of all things.
> Every Human is a Thing. Therefore Thing is a super set of Human.
> Is Human a Thing? No! its a Class!
> Everything Thing is an individual.
> Human is not an individual, it is a classification of individuals.
> Thing is not an individual, it is a classification of individuals.
> Can we classify Classes? Yes we can! Human is a classification - I just
> classified Human as a classification.
> Human is a Class.
> Thing is a Class.
> Are all Things Classes? No! I am a Thing, but I am not a classification.
> Is Thing the same as Class? No! Human is not a Thing, but Human is a
> Class.
>
> Hope this helps,
> James
>
>
>
>
>
>

Received on Thursday, 28 August 2008 06:54:03 UTC