[topicmapmail] [ANN] Topic Map Explorer Version 1.0

[Murray Altheim]

Thomas B. Passin wrote:
[...]
> I was also able to (unintentionaly) create an loop between two topics I 
> tried to relate, so that the tree view display kept unfolding the same 
> two topics ad infinitum (if I had wanted to keep expanding the tree).

Tom,

I'll not comment on the rest of your message, except to note that
a tree view of a graph will inevitably cause the behaviour you
cite above. I see this in my own application too but am loathe to
correct it since to do so would basically invalidate the actual
representation of the graph. A loop *is* a loop -- they're legal.

I suppose one could pop up a dialog saying it's a loop, but because
the loop might be quite large, the user may desire to continue
such a traversal rather than try to relocate. My point is that I
think this can be a design decision, not necessarily a fault.

Now, this is not to excuse any loops that cause uncontrollable runs
that take the application (or the computer) down...

Murray

......................................................................
Murray Altheim                    http://kmi.open.ac.uk/people/murray/
Knowledge Media Institute
The Open University, Milton Keynes, Bucks, MK7 6AA, UK               .

    At a mobile home park in north Fort Pierce, Timothy Fellows
    emerged from the storm to find a neighbor's trailer demolished
    but only a fence down on his property. "My trailer survived!"
    the barechested Fellows shouted as he walked through his yard.
    "Because I believe in God. Even my mailbox survived. That tells
    you something."

    Ramiro Venegas, an itinerant worker from Mexico, said the storm
    forced him to spend two nights sleeping in a men's toilet at a
    Fort Pierce marina. He had been staying in his girlfriend's car
    until she ditched him two days earlier.

    http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/news/archive/2004/09/05/national1454EDT0524.DTL