other formats (Re: [Dev] 4Suite RDF and ZOD)

[John Anderson]

Adam Logghe wrote:

>John,
>
>Would you guys consider releasing some source for the data layers sooner
>rather than later?
>  
>
Right now there's hardly any code worth releasing. Next week I'm hoping 
to have someone start working on it full time -- and as they proceed 
we'll make sure everyone is involved.

>I'm very interested in the approach you're taking and would love to
>tinker with it, even if it all changes out from under me in two weeks ;
>)
>
>Just releasing the data layers shouldn't cause any too early support
>issues. There would be a high barrier to entry so you shouldn't have to
>answer tooo many dumb questions...
>
>Adam
>adam@devtty.net
>
>On Fri, 2002-11-08 at 11:22, John Anderson wrote:
>  
>
>>I hope to have more time to elaborate, but this is the approach I am 
>>proposing. RDF (flexible data structures, pervasive URIs, fully 
>>-extendible). Make the RDF look like normal Python objects that 
>>transparently persist. I want it to be really easy for programmers to 
>>manipulate the data in ways they are familiar. I hope the turnaround for 
>>modifying the schema and manaipulating it in Python should be measured 
>>in seconds, not minutes.
>>
>>John
>>
>>Aaron Swartz wrote:
>>
>>    
>>
>>>Hi, David! I haven't caught up on the mailing list yet, so apologies 
>>>if I'm repeating what's been said.
>>>
>>>On Saturday, November 2, 2002, at 02:48  PM, David McCusker wrote:
>>>
>>>      
>>>
>>>>The phrase "RDF-based PIM" makes it sound like RDF is somehow 
>>>>pervasive in the architecture so it cannot be replaced with something 
>>>>else. [...] Other ways of writing content persistently might join 
>>>>Morgan's RDF prototype.
>>>>        
>>>>
>>>I understood this to mean that they were adopting the RDF philosophy 
>>>(flexible data structures, pervasive URIs, fully-extendible 
>>>descriptions of everything); I certainly hope they aren't planning to 
>>>store it as RDF/XML.
>>>
>>>RDF is sort of a natural way to think of this data, but that doesn't 
>>>mean the APIs need look like addTriple, getTriples (indeed, my TRAMP 
>>>library for Python[1] makes RDF look like regular objects) nor that 
>>>the storage format encode things in RDF. There are many APIs and 
>>>backends that can be used without sacrificing the flexibility of the 
>>>philosophy.
>>>
>>>[1] http://www.aaronsw.com/2002/tramp
>>>
>>>The important features to me are that everything is intertwingled, 
>>>with links from mail to address book to recent messages to calendar 
>>>appoints everywhere, and that I can always add more attributes and 
>>>values to nodes. In this sense, the RDF philosophy is that we make 
>>>simple statements (this email is about the Chandler project; this 
>>>folder should show all messages about the Chandler project) rather 
>>>than placing things in some sort of hierarchy (new folder with name 
>>>Chandler; move this email to the Chandler folder).
>>>      
>>>
>>_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
>>
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>>    
>>
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