Re: TMDM and merging associations

Hi Steve,

I expected that you'd join the discussion :)

I think you made some valid points and this is theoretical discussion
that has nothing to do with the original request to fix the TMDM spec
(it has to be fixed).

I agree that reification is underrated but I don't see a real use case
for reifying roles because I think that associations should be
immutable entities and that the roles should be absorbed by them.

Given that an association is an immutable entity, it makes no sense to
reify a role to state (for example) that the particular role was added
at date X since that date would be equal to the date when the
association was created / added.

Nice side effect: Several models outside TMDM would work more easily,
i.e. Lars Marius' Q5 or the TMRM -> TMDM mapping.

Best regards,
Lars
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