graph "chercheurs" WAS Re: [xtm-wg] A challenge on "the graph"

[Sam Hunting <sam_hunting@yahoo.com>]

> [Sam]
> > However, I appeal to you to at least throw out some suggestions NOW

[bernard]
> They say indeed : Topic Maps are so simple. Why did you complicate
> them with all that unnecessary twisted syntax ?
> The nodes of the same type have the same color. So have the arcs of
> the same type. Some TM elements will be nodes, some other will be 
> arcs. There will be basic rules on the colors of nodes and arcs, and
> that's all there will be

Well, as Einstein said, "As simple as possible -- and no simpler!"

I wonder how you or they will address Lars concern that the graph
approach is in fact "too simple".

[bernard]
> And they claim : " The graph modeling shows some inconstencies and
> shortcomings of the XTM syntax model and the DTD. But it's very easy
> to clean that"

The rhetorical (read, marketing and pedagogical) purposes of the DTD
are the source of the (so-called) inconsistency. It would be surprising
indeed if what was intuitive to a graph chercheur was intuitive to Joe
Markup ;-)

[bernard]
> And I said : *Please* - there has been enough of blood
> and tears - don't *ever* mention the DTD.

Smart move!

> 
> BUT ... they know how to put these sets of colored nodes and arcs in
> a system and have algorithms to spider the graph and query and 
> retrieve amazing things you just can't do in a relational data base,
> like : "Take any (A,B) in a set of entangled genealogical trees. Find
> every couple made of a descendant of A married to a descendant of B".
> Or : "Find me a family where all members of three following 
> generations were born, married and dead in the same county". Weird 
> things like that. 

I wonder if Eric would like to commment on this -- he being an expert
on geneology and topic maps. 

[bernard]
> And they claim these algorithms have been around for ages.

Good. This appeals to my laziness -- though implementors will need
pointers.

[bernard]
> And they claim it's not academic work, and that Francfort's Airport
> traffic and New York's garbage collection, among others, are working 
> with implemented models grounded in graph theory.

Good again. One of the knocks on graph theory is that it is academic.

[bernard]
> What more ? We'll have a F2F meeting next week to put all that down
> in a single document for the community use.

That means the document will be available in a week? Great news.
Thanks.

> I propose to write down that document in such a way that it meets the
> mathematicians' requirements and the eagerness of XTM community to
> understand them. Is NOW time span extendable up to one week ?

Yes, but better quick release than perfect. Things are moving very
fast.

The conclusion I draw from this is that more focus is required on PM
requirements and the "layering" issue, so that we have a context to fit
this new contribution into.

S.

=====
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