[MOBY-dev] [moby] Re: Cleaning up the Object ontology - Inheriting from base Object

Martin Senger senger at ebi.ac.uk
Tue Feb 21 08:33:50 UTC 2006


> Could we find common ground if we made an API change that resulted in the  
> Namespace ontology being hierarchical rather than flat?  If I understand  
> the problem you are trying to solve, this would make a significant  
> difference - but would it make *enough* difference that you wouldn't have  
> to create more specific types of simple Objects?
>
   Honestly, I do not know. I even do not fully understand your
"combinatorial explosion", and - mainly - why it would not happen with a
hierarchy and inheritance within namespaces? That would also mean that we
would have two trees, one (roughly speaking) describing syntax (data type
tree) and one describing semantics (namapsce tree). That would not be easy
to explain, maintain and use...
   I am tempted to say that I wuold still use data types to express how a
reality is related, and I would use namespaces as an additional
information - where I would welcome less flat alternative.

   Martin

-- 
Martin Senger
   email: martin.senger at gmail.com
   skype: martinsenger
consulting for:
   International Rice Research Institute
   Biometrics and Bioinformatics Unit
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   Philippines, phone: +63-2-580-5600 (ext.2324)




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