Re: 'primary' in primer

pat hayes wrote:
> 
> I forgot to mention. You used the term 'primary value' to refer to
> the value of rdf:value (if you see what I mean), and I avoided it
> deliberately because in this context particularly it might suggest to
> someone with a DB background that rdf:value was being used to
> indicate a primary field in a DBS, and nothing could be wronger.  I
> havnt checked whether or not you follow this usage elsewhere in the
> primer.

Pat--

(minor point)
I have a database background and I wasn't confused (nothing like a large
sample size to prove a point!). 
I think the database term you have in mind is "primary key" rather than
"primary field", and we've never suggested anything like "key-ness" of
values in any of this discussion (A "key" is a unique identifier;  a
"primary key" is selected from among the possible "candidate keys" to
identify rows in a relational table; a row in one table might identify a
specific row in another table using a "foreign key".  Note that all
these involve using various adjectives on "key".  I'm not familiar with
"primary field").  However, if people think it'll be a problem we can
change it to "main" (as you did in your rewrite).

--Frank

-- 
Frank Manola                   The MITRE Corporation
202 Burlington Road, MS A345   Bedford, MA 01730-1420
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Received on Monday, 9 December 2002 16:16:45 UTC