Roy wrote:
> -- A code is also called an enumeration or a labeling or a
> classification. It is tied to a namespace. In the Hubble namespace,
> galaxies have codes Sa, Sb, SBa, E0 etc etc
>
> -- An ID is unique identifier for something that is strongly linked
> to a namespace. Within the Messier namespace, there are identifiers
> M31, M51, M87.
Ok. How about, rather, meta.classID and meta.nameID? It seems to me that the "IDness" of something is the part that will suggest to most users that this is something from a controlled namespace, whereas a class is a type of something and a name denotes a specific something, either of which might require a controlled ID.
> -- A name is anything that identifies something, need not be
> unique. Thus a single galaxy can have several names, eq M87 and
> NGC4486 are different names for the same thing.
>
> -- A Title is a multi-word version of a name: "Center of Virgo
> cluster" would be a title for M87.
But surely a name can be multi-word and a title, e.g., "Macbeth" need not. And nicknames can indeed be "short names", such as "B" instead of "Johnson B", but can also be longer, such as "The Scottish Play".
The general question of names is an issue of alias management. An ID is only unique in the sense of being guaranteed not to apply to more than one item. On the other hand, a single item may have multiple IDs - multiple aliases.
Rob Received on 2006-07-25Z19:44:12