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Subject: [ubl-lcsc] general discussion on Code/Identifier use


not wishing to contradict my earlier remark to the UBL-comment list 
about moving this away from our CCTS comments, i think we still need to 
continue the debate within library content as a guide for our own 
application of the terms.  So let me follow up on mike's  original 
posting...

Michael Adcock wrote:

>
>
>Therefore, if we adopt this strictly, those things we have previously known as codes, such as Country Code, Currency Code, Product Code are identifiers, since they identify a Country, a Currency, a Product. Otherwise, according to the outcome of discussions, the Country Code would be a representation of a country!
>
the point made was that if the structure you were considering was the 
object class 'country' then you would have Country. Identifier. Code. 
 This is a code AND an identifier.  However is this code was used in a 
Shipping Address structure it would be just Country. Code.  It is the 
context that determines whether this property uniquely identifies its 
object class.

It is possible to have a code that does not provide unique 
identification at any time, for example, acronyms (VAT, SSID, KFC, etc.) 
 these are words used to represent others, but they are not assured of 
uniqueness in any context (the software industry is full of these). 
 They are codes to provide short-hand notation not unique identity.

It seems to me that comparing codes to identifiers is like comparing a 
map  to a location.  we can use a map to represent a location - but if i 
want to know where i am, the two are not useful alternatives.  to know 
where i am,  i need a location and i may find it represented as a map 
(ie 'you are here').  and of course, location can also be represented as 
co-ordinates or postal address -each can identify a place, but they are 
different representations.

>
>[Now, I guess someone will try to argue that "the Country Code is an exact representation of the name of a country". That idea should be shot down in flames. What is a name? It's an identifier. So "the Country Code is an exact representation of an identifier of a country"! Therefore Country Identifier is the CORRECT expression according to our definitions!] 
>
>This of course gives us another set of synonyms between the 'formalised name' and terms in common business usage. Realistically we are not going to change familiar business terms. I believe that the Library of Business Information Entities needs to register business-familiar-terms as synonyms of the formalised name. One would therefore deliberately record, for example, that the business term 'account number' is a synonym of 'account identifier'.
>

I would have thought the formalised name would have been 'Account. 
Identifier. Number' - it still needs a rep. term.


-- 
regards
tim mcgrath
fremantle  western australia 6160
phone: +618 93352228  fax: +618 93352142 





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