About ticle

Hi ticlers,

some people may have wondered what ticle is like. Is it RDF
or is it close to XTM or is it just a link manager?

Well I think we'll see. I don't know where it's going, but I'd like to take
the opportunity to tell what I had in mind this spring (and what has been very
well implemented by Simon!). And maybe this posting is helpful to some of you,
...

For the ease of writing I will refer to the basic principles I describe as
"ticle" though ticle is really the implementation.


1. The relation between RDF and ticle 

RDF and ticle share the concept of triples - though ticle is more abstract
than RDF. (E.g.: In RDF the spec differentiates between the nature of the 
subject, the predicate and the object:
(http://www.w3.org/TR/2003/WD-rdf-concepts-20031010/#dfn-rdf-triple) whereas
ticle does not.) Ticle says: triples consist of four UIDs: the UID for the
triple (needed for reification) and the UIDs for subject, predicate and
object. As a matter of fact there is not even any clear binding to the ideas
of subject, predicate and object in ticle. Though, since a triple is a triple
there is no syntactic difference between RDF and ticle and it helps some
people to understand when calling the first triple item "object", the second
"predicate" and the third "object". 

Ticle is NOT RDF. Nor does ticle support any out-of-the-box features for RDF.

But: RDF and ticle share the aim of modelling relations between things.



RDF and ticle differ in (at least) the following aspects: 

a) RDF aims in producing a specification (in XML and graphical) to model
information -- ticle aims to produce a running system to connect objects
together (e.g. in plone)

b) RDF comes with a predefined set of types and metadata -- ticles metadata
concept (though a work in progress) is based on the same triples that are used
to model the content. Thus enabling to change the metadata structure in a
running system. (See my ideas on the constraint manager...)

c) RDF is designed to be embedded in XML documents. Ticle is not.

d) RDF uses URIs for referencing - ticle uses referential integral UIDs (as a
consequence, URIs are accessible directly throug e.g. HTTP whereas UIDs must
be resolved by ticle.


?? Maby it is possible to use ticle to create an RDF engine... though there 
would be a lot to be done... especially on the XML part.


2. XTM/ISO TopicMaps and ticle (and RDF)

TopicMaps (in each flavour) are used to model semantics like RDF. The big 
difference is, that RDF looks upon the world thinking: "Everything is a 
resource." Wheras XTM looks upon the world thinking: "Everything is a topic." 
Ticle on the other hand thinks: "Everything is a triple."  

I don't want to go into details with topicmaps here. I've been participating
in constructing a huge topic map (see http://www.wissen.de it's one big topic
map!).  To me it comes down to a simple thing: topic maps can model semantics
and RDF can, too. Neither beeing better or less capable. Both models have
their beauty and their awkwardness and both do not have a powerful free engine
unleashing the potential of either of the two. Ticle could be used to make
such an engine.


But BEWARE!
With all modelling languages (including ticle if you like) the very
fundamental problems remain unsolved:

* You have to fully understand what you want to model. Sounds obvious, but
  seems to be one of the big pitfalls. You must understand that there is
  more than one view of the world. In fact, the idea of one world is absurd!
  There are many worlds - accept it.

* You must understand the nature of semantics. Labels do not have
  semantics. Just because you name a topic or resource "table" it does not
  carry any semantics and it certainly has nothing to do with what we know a
  table is unless you provide relations and interpretations.

* --> Semantics evolve from interpretation and interpretation may be guided by
      relations. (!)

* You must have a concept of equality to make unification
  possible. Unification is one of the most important tasks to handle. This is
  why uniqueness is so important to ticle.




3. Ticle and linking 

Since typed links can be constructed with triples. Ticle
is very good for linking with types and referential integrity.



I do appreciate any comments on this.



   Sebastian



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