[sc34wg3] TMCL Declarations

[Patrick Durusau]

Greetings!

Before I enter this as an issue for the TMCL project I wanted to check 
my reading for section 6. TMCL Declarations.

6.1 General says:

> TMCL provides a number of constructs known as declarations, which 
> allow Topic Maps constructs to be used in ways which would otherwise 
> be forbidden by the global validation rules. Declarations are in a 
> sense the opposite of constraints, in that their effect is to relax 
> constraints built into TMCL. 

OK, so there are global validation rules that prevent some use and the 
declarations provide exceptions to those rules.

Yes?

But then for 6.2 Topic Type, the global validation rule says:

> any topic /t/ which plays a role of type |tmdm:type| in an association 
> of type |tmdm:type-instance|, but which is not an instance of 
> |tmcl:topic-type|, is invalid. 

OK, so how does a topic become *an instance of tmcl:topic type*?

Err, I think it says:

> Making a topic an instance of |tmcl:topic-type| is a declaration that 
> the topic may be used as a topic type. 

So, the declaration is the only way to *meet* the constraint. Yes?

How is that a relaxing of the constraint? Or use in some way forbidden 
by the global validation rules?

I may be missing something real obvious since I am working my way from 
front to back but I have read section 6 relatively carefully and 
something isn't right about the introduction in 6.1.

Yes?

I wanted to check before I entered an issue for the project because 
there may be explanation lurking in the prose that I just haven't seen.

Hope everyone is having a great day!

Patrick

-- 
Patrick Durusau
patrick at durusau.net
Chair, V1 - US TAG to JTC 1/SC 34
Convener, JTC 1/SC 34/WG 3 (Topic Maps)
Editor, OpenDocument Format TC (OASIS), Project Editor ISO/IEC 26300
Co-Editor, ISO/IEC 13250-1, 13250-5 (Topic Maps)

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