Dimension is another whole aspect: is it scalar (min/max both 1), optional (0,1), or array(0/1, 2 or greater), and is that fixed-number of occurrences or variable-occurrences.
On Wed, Aug 31, 2022 at 7:14 AM Roger L Costello <[email protected]> wrote: > Hi Folks, > > An input document -- a data format -- consists of a series of "fields". > > A field may be fixed length or variable length. A field may be nillable or > not nillable. A field may consist of parts, aka, a composite field. A field > may have a choice of values or not. > > So there are 4 variables: length, nillability, parts, and choice. Each > variable has two possibilities (e.g., "length" is either fixed or > variable). If I remember math/statistics correctly, the total number of > permutations of 4 variables, each with 2 values, are: > > 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 = 16 > > There are 16 categories of fields. I list the categories below. Have I > missed any category? /Roger > > 1. Fixed length, nillable, one part, no choice > 2. Fixed length, nillable, one part, choice > 3. Fixed length, nillable, multiple parts, no choice > 4. Fixed length, nillable, multiple parts, choice > 5. Fixed length, not nillable, one part, no choice > 6. Fixed length, not nillable, one part, choice > 7. Fixed length, not nillable, multiple parts, no choice > 8. Fixed length, not nillable, multiple parts, choice > 9. Variable length, nillable, one part, no choice > 10. Variable length, nillable, one part, choice > 11. Variable length, nillable, multiple parts, no choice > 12. Variable length, nillable, multiple parts, choice > 13. Variable length, not nillable, one part, no choice > 14. Variable length, not nillable, one part, choice > 15. Variable length, not nillable, multiple parts, no choice > 16. Variable length, not nillable, multiple parts, choice >
