mkroetzsch added a comment.
In https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T86278#969184, @Multichill wrote:
> I would like to turn it around. We should support indexing everything:
...
> The fact that we're not creative enough to make up queries for everything
> doesn't mean it isn't useful.
I have to disagree with this approach of designing a (query) system. Of course
supporting "everything" would be nice, but indexing always needs to be viewed
in the context of a query language. Depending on the query features you
support, "indexing" may mean completely different things. The requirement that
"everything should be indexed" is fuzzy and vague.
For example, Wikidata Query supports regular path queries (in Wikidata,
Kleene-star recursion is accessed with an operator called "TREE"). When you say
that references should be indexed, do you mean that it should be possible to
navigate through references within regular path expressions? How about
qualifiers? I think Wikidata query only supports TREE in the main statements.
On the other hand, Wikidata query does not support any kind of cyclic queries
("Find people whose parents are married to each other.") even though the
relevant data is indexed. The point is that you need adequate index structures
for each query feature. You may have "indexed everything" and still not be able
to do the queries you want.
Moreover, I am creative enough to come up with queries that would be very hard
to implement, yet this does not mean that we should do it. Both "everything"
and "everything we are creative enough for" are poor design principles.
So how to move forward? The usual approach to design a practical system is to
collect use cases and requirements (example queries) and then make a clear
decision what should be supported and what shouldn't. One can always revise
this decision later, but it's still much better to make it explicit than to
just go along and see what we get. In all of this, it must be understood that
supporting "everything" is an impossible task. The question is merely where to
draw the line(s).
TASK DETAIL
https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T86278
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To: Smalyshev, mkroetzsch
Cc: Aklapper, Smalyshev, Lydia_Pintscher, Multichill, Magnus, daniel,
JeroenDeDauw, JanZerebecki, aude, mkroetzsch, Denny, Sjoerddebruin,
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