[topicmapmail] [ANN] Topic Map Explorer Version 1.0

[Thomas B. Passin]

Murray Altheim wrote:

> 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).
> 
> 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.
> 

Murray, I quite understand how it can arise, and how it can be a pesky 
design decision.  I think I would have chosen differently, but that's 
just the way I like to approach things.  I was more unhappy about how 
easy it was to create the loop by mistake, and how I could not correct 
once the mistake had been made.

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

Luckily, that did not happen for me.

Cheers,

Tom P

-- 
Thomas B. Passin
Explorer's Guide to the Semantic Web (Manning Books)
http://www.manning.com/catalog/view.php?book=passin