Hi Samson,
We are getting closer.
1) In the reference you site..."A class is the descriptor for a set"...
2) Earlier, you stated that "semantics of a class as denoting a set of
instances."
I believe these two statements represent the "apples" and "oranges" you
referenced:
Statement 1) is
Dan,
We are talking apples and oranges.
I am talking about the semantics of "class", of which the Observation
class is an example. [1], for example, says, "A class is the
descriptor for a set of objects with similar structure, behavior, and
relationships." (p. 50)
You are talking about a
Hi Samson,
Sorry for my older-style jargon...
Here is the Wikipedia entry on collection/aggregation. We often called
these classes "collectors" in jargon:
"Aggregation
Class diagram showing Aggregation between two
classes
Aggregation
is a variant of the "has a" or association relationshi
Dan,
You've lost me. What is an ObservationCollectorClass? Googling the term
gives only one hit, namely your message.
The conceptualization of a class as denoting a set of instances is
quite common. It's in UML, frame representation, and OWL. I don't
understand why Observation, as a RIM class
Dear All,
This is meant as a friendly comment, and perhaps a comment on the need
for further work. FWIW, I'm a UK based Oncology Reg. (can't translate to
US terms - sorry) just coming to the end of a PhD in CS. The PhD was
peripherally involved with ontologies, and I have edited OWL files by
Ouch...
A class of Observation does not denote a set of instances of type
Observation...One uses "collector" classes to describe sets. In other
words, an instance of an ObservationCollectorClass contains instances
of an ObservationClass. The ObservationCollectorClass (and instances
thereof) ce
Yes, if we understand the semantics of a class as denoting a set of
instances. Specifying WBC_Count_Observation is equivalent to defining a
subset of all Observations, which is natural to think about. If we see
Observation as a metaclass, then it's the set of sets of
observations.The properties
