[sc34wg3] [role playing topic] property value (WAS: Re: SAM: Topic Identity)

[Lars Marius Garshol]

* kal@techquila.com
|=20
| I don't understand why the [role player] property cannot be null
| (like the [reifier] property) in this case.=20

This was issue assoc-role-player-type, settled in Montr=E9al last year.=20
<URL: http://www.ontopia.net/omnigator/models/topic_complete.jsp?tm=3Dtm-st=
andards.xtm&id=3Dassoc-role-player-type >

The reasoning was that conceptually both subjects *are* there, and we
thought it would be cleaner and make life easier to require them to be
there. Personally, I think the XTM syntax is wrong here, and that they
ought to be required, but we can't fix that now. To be perfectly
honest, this fix has bothered me somewhat since, and it may be that
this is not the right solution to the problem.

I'd welcome new input on this, but if we want to change our minds here
we have to discuss it in a meeting.

| Assigning random identity to topics smells like a hack [...]

Clearly it is. :)

| [...] and is going to make canonicalisation more than a little
| difficult (how does one determine a canonical order for topics with
| random identity ?),=20

I know. I'd mentally resigned myself to us not being able to guarantee
the ordering of these, which again would leave us with some small
black holes in the test suite.

| so I would be strongly against that.

That is noted.

Thoughts from anyone on this?

--=20
Lars Marius Garshol, Ontopian         <URL: http://www.ontopia.net >
GSM: +47 98 21 55 50                  <URL: http://www.garshol.priv.no >