[Tcs-lc] Human Readable - the thread formally known as 'Name of NomenCode'

[Gregor Hagedorn]

I agree and disagree with Sally regarding the reference versus inclusion 
(composition) of objects.

Sally is completely right that references for some data providers are 
artificial and cumbersome. For other data providers, however, the inclusion 
gets into the way. Imagine an SDD document containing descriptions: One could 
include the entire TCS for the name of the taxon that is described, ABCD to 
represent the specimens actually described, and inside SDD for each use of a 
character or character state the full definition of it. This quickly becomes 
almost impossible to consume, and would be huge.

I believe ultimately we need a design pattern that allows expression both by 
reference and by composition. Each standard could define the place where this 
would be thrown open, or where the provider is restricted to a single method. I 
try to develop a draft for this (currently only with input from Bob) on

http://wiki.cs.umb.edu/twiki/bin/view/UBIF/WebChanges?topic=ObjectTypePattern

This is unfinished business, but I welcome any input on this (wiki or email!). 
Perhaps look at "Rules governing placement and relations of objects" regarding 
the reference versus composition question. As usual my convoluted way of 
thinking makes it difficult to follow...

The idea is to mix the level of representation detail (see slides on 
http://wiki.cs.umb.edu/twiki/bin/view/UBIF/DataModelMatrix) with a model that 
allows to use them either directly or by (document-internal or www-) reference.

Gregor----------------------------------------------------------
Gregor Hagedorn (G.Hagedorn at bba.de)
Institute for Plant Virology, Microbiology, and Biosafety
Federal Research Center for Agriculture and Forestry (BBA)
Königin-Luise-Str. 19           Tel: +49-30-8304-2220
14195 Berlin, Germany           Fax: +49-30-8304-2203