> Date: Tue, 11 Jan 2005 10:53:28 +0000
> From: Dr Robert Sanderson <[log in to unmask]>
>
> > I believe that Mike Taylor has concerns about mapping multiple
> > index names to the same semantics, though apparently that is
> > considered OK in the case of "author/creator" and is also OK if
> > the index names are in different context sets. In GILS, we do have
> > a few instances where multiple names are needed for the same
> > abstract concept.
>
> For the record, I agree with Mike's concerns. It would be better if
> you just picked one name for each index, as then there's no decision
> to be made by people using the context set as to which name(s) to
> support. Nor requiring clients to try and support all of the
> different names.
Also for the record (thank, Rob!) Eliot is incorrect in supposing that
I think it's OK for CQL indexes in different context sets to have
different names. Far from it: as a matter of Good CQL Citizenship,
anyone defining a new context set should take pains to ensure that
they do not duplicate the semantics of an index already defined
elsewhere. This is why, for example, the Bath Profile for SRW at
http://zing.z3950.org/srw/bath/2.0/
does not define a "title" element in its "bath" context set, but
instead describes how "dc.title" should be used.
(Note that a specific server interpretation may, due to inadequacies
of its data model, end up interpreting multiple indexes in the same
way; but that is not the same thing as the indexes being _defined_
identically. To take a topical example, a server might well implement
cql.serverChoice and cql.anywhere using the same internal index, but
that doesn't change the fact that in principle they are defined
differently.)
Finally, the case of author/creator is regrettable, but I don't think
there is any point in trying to hold back the tide on that one. The
whole world uses these index names interchangably, and we must either
acquiesce or spend our lives fielding "bug reports" from uses who want
to know why our servers don't support author-searching.
_/|_ _______________________________________________________________
/o ) \/ Mike Taylor <[log in to unmask]> http://www.miketaylor.org.uk
)_v__/\ "If Microsoft Word had been around 400 years ago, Martin
Luther would never have got around to nailing his thesis
to the church door. He'd have spent the evening messing
around with the font size and found out the next day that the
Reformation had broken out without him" -- Andrew Rilstone.
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