[topicmapmail] Questions about how to express stuff

[Thomas B. Passin]

PeterV wrote:

> Would it be correct to compare this to a question on how to best
> create a database model for certain things? The simple stuff you can
> just give people a good way to model it that works. But for anything
> more complex it really depends on what they want to do with the model
> (what kind of queries affects how you design your database).
> 

Just so...

> And if that is true, is there anything like normalization rules for 
> topicmaps?
> 

Not specifically yet, but two points -

1) Some normalization rules are good general practice, and make sense to
apply to topic maps (like proper dependence between entities), and

2) Some things are built in by specification, like only one topic per
subject.

> And is there anything like best topicmap creation practices (in the 
> database world: "normalize first, but keep in mind how you'll use the
>  data and then un-normalize where needed")?

Not yet - and even in the rdbms world that kind of thing tends to be 
pretty implemenation dependent, doesn't it?

However, it would be good to build up some collections of good 
practices, along with good patterns for modeling common situations.

Cheers,

Tom P