Re: Properties not predicates (was Re: PRIMER: draft data model section)

I understood the point Brian was making (that what we call the middle 
component of the triple is one thing, and the kind of thing it *is* is 
something else;  that's why I referred to "overloading" in my earlier 
message on this subject), but it's not clear we've yet arrived at a 
satisfactory resolution.  The point is, if "predicate" is a misleading 
term to use in referring to the thing, ought we to continue to use it?

Brian McBride wrote:

> 
> 
> Pat Hayes wrote:
> 
>>> I support this as a change in specification prose.
>>> Please note there is an RDF property named "predicate"; it's used in
>>> reification. Changing that is a different matter.
>>
>>
>>
>> Yes, I just remembered this myself, and agree that would be a 
>> different matter altogether. I think I now follow Brian's earlier 
>> message. The idea would be that subject/predicate/object are 
>> grammatical categories for the parts of a triple, but the actual thing 
>> indicated by the predicate - the thingie in the middle - is called a 
>> property, right?
> 
> 
> 
> That is my interpretation of current usage.  So in an api, I have:
> 
>   stmt.getSubject()
>   stmt.getPredicate()
>   stmt.getObject()
> 
> to deconstruct a statement.
> 
>   stmt.getResource
> 
> does not make sense.
> 
> Brian
> 


-- 
Frank Manola                   The MITRE Corporation
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Received on Wednesday, 24 October 2001 08:55:22 UTC