Henry Story wrote:
On 2 Jul 2010, at 15:22, Kingsley Idehen wrote:
I think, the main confusion comes from the use of the term "object" for two
entirely different things: In the case of "O-R-O", it refers to (semantic)
individuals. In the case of "S-P-O", it refers to a position in a
(syntactic) RDF triple.
Conflation Conflation. It makes RDF a real PITA, unfortunately.
EAV model is crystal clear:
Entity-Attribute-Value.
Slap on HTTP names for Entity, Attribute, and Value, optionally, and you get
an HTTP based World Wide Web of Structured Linked Data.
This is why conflating RDF and Linked Data has nothing but downside IMHO.
It all depends to whom one is speaking Kingsley. To me EAV does not say much.
To OO programmers
attribute values often gets them thinking somewhere along the right lines.
"Value" is clearer than "Object".
A Value can be a Reference or a Literal.
A Reference can be a Name or an Address.
RDF (which I use extensively) is a problem when it comes to value
proposition articulation. Its way too prone to the kind of thread that's
making me miss Brazil vs. Netherlands (right now).
Anyway, I am talking about the most basic foundation for Linked Data.
It doens't need RDF overhang.
Simple story:
An HTTP Name for the things you deem worthy of describing and then
sharing with others via a network (e.g. World Wide Web).
Application of said Names to Description Subject, its Attributes, and
Attribute Values.
Do that and we can Link and Lookup stuff across an HTTP network, really
simple!
I think it may be best to think in terms of arrows between things, as shown
below. I think
since the 60ies everyone at the age of 5 starts learning about mappings between
objects, these
mappings are arrows, and are very easy to understand.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------
All of these are ok with me. I also like RDF, it means many things, and
most of all Reality Distortion Field. Because as you know, our view of
reality is very distorted (just think of how people 2000 years ago saw the
world),
and so to get to understand things better we need to enter what will seem
a reality distortion field from our very limited point of view.
BTW -- Richard packs a goatee these days. Need a temporal dimension for
richer representation LOL!
Kingsley
Henry
--
Regards,
Kingsley Idehen
President & CEO
OpenLink Software
Web: http://www.openlinksw.com
Weblog: http://www.openlinksw.com/blog/~kidehen
Twitter/Identi.ca: kidehen
