[sc34wg3] Questions on N0396: (14) name equality

[Jan Algermissen]

Steve Pepper wrote:
> 
> At 20:34 22.04.2003 +0200, Jan Algermissen wrote:
> >N0396 defines merging of names on the basis of string equality.
> >Since string equality is said to be character by character equality,
> >this means that an application cannot choose to do name merging
> >on "fuzzy" equality (e.g. "Monster" and "monster"). Is that true?
> >
> >I suppose one could define an additional merging rule that merges
> >topics on the basis of "fuzzy" name equality, yes?
> >
> >But I can never merge two name items that have a "fyzzy-euqal" string
> >value, yes?
> >
> >So, even if I consider the two name items ["monster"] and ["Monster"] to be
> >surrogates for the same subject (the same name), N0396 prohibits me from
> >merging them, yes?
> 
> No. The SAM allows applications to define their own merging rules
> over and above those required by the spec, so you are perfectly free
> to perform normalization etc. before comparing names and performing a
> merge. Just don't expect an out-of-the-box generic topic map processor
> with no knowledge of your particular application requirements to do it
> for you.

So, when merging two name items, what do I do with the strings if they are
not equal? Is it up to me what to do? Can I simply throw one away?
What if I want to keep both strings, how could I attach both to the 
name item that is the result of the merge?

Jan

> 
> Steve
> 
> --
> Steve Pepper, Ontopian
> http://www.ontopia.net
> DUMUS DELENDUM EST
> 
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-- 
Jan Algermissen                           http://www.topicmapping.com
Consultant & Programmer	                  http://www.gooseworks.org