[xtm-wg] User API - A new endeavour for topicmaps.org?

["Thomas B. Passin" <tpassin@home.com>]

Now that there seems to be agreement to leave syntax and essential model
development to the ISO work, there is the question of what work should be
done under the aegis of OASIS or whatever, not that there is any lack of
possibilities.

I'd like to suggest that there is one area that urgently needs attention and
would be a perfect match.  It's a Topic Map API for user programs.  By this
designation, I mean to distinguish it from an inteface for building and
maintaining a topic map.

Such an API should be as uncommitted as possible to the underlying model, so
that it would work with multiple implementations.  For example, the user API
shouldn't have to know whether the underlying engine uses a graph or a
containment model.  After all, the user at a browser (or whatever) won't
know or care.

Right now, all demo (and more serious) programs have their own code to talk
to their own engines.  A good API would allow for developmer to concentrate
on the larger issues, such as how the user should interact with the system.

A user API would be based on likely user scenarios or use cases.  Some
things seem pretty obvious.  For example, users will want to see lists of
topics, scopes, and associations in some way, but mostly by name.  They will
want to get information of a topic having selected it by name, and will want
to apply filters that, again, would be selected by name.  Perhaps the API
would even let a user create a topic and add it to the map.

A user API would presumably eventually support requests for inferencing
based on the nature of associations.

Perhaps, topicmaps.org/OASIS could even build a reference implementation
based on the API.  That would be extremely valuable.

I have been working on an API myself, mainly because I want to play with
scopes, selecting, and filtering and will need some way to access the map
data.  I'd be happy to contribute this rudimentary effort if it might act as
a seed for more work.

Thoughts and suggestions, anyone?

Regards,

Tom P


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