ISSUE-197: "Defined" and "declared" used in multiple ways, and not defined

Defined

"Defined" and "declared" used in multiple ways, and not defined

State:

CLOSED

Product:

SHACL Spec

Raised by:

Karen Coyle

Opened on:

2016-11-17

Description:

From Peter's email [1]:

"Constraints are defined within a shape"

"Defined within" is not defined.

"Constraints that declare more than one parameters, such as sh:pattern, are
not allowed to be declared more than once in the same constraint."

The first two uses of "declare" come from section 6.2. A core definition is
needed.

The last use of "declared" is not defined.

"declare" is used for many different purposes, most of them undefined.

******* More analysis *******
The use of defined in its normal sense of "having a definition" is ok. Example:

"The parameter name is defined as the local name of the value of sh:predicate."

The use of defined to mean something like "takes as a value" or "is coded as" is less clear:

"Property constraints are defined in a shape with the property sh:property."
"Based on the parameter IRIs on the tables, pre-bound variables are defined using the parameter names."

In some cases, the term "declare" is used in the same way as the second meaning of define:
" Constraint components declare one or more parameter properties and validation instructions (such as those implemented as SPARQL queries) that can be used to perform the validation for the given focus node and parameter values."

Suggest:
- use "defined" for "is given a definition or meaning in this or other texts
- do not use "declare"
- find a more precise term for the second meaning of "defined" that specifically addresses the creation of properties and values, regardless of how "definitional" they are.

(Note how this is used in the SKOS document: "Therefore, while SKOS can be used to describe a concept scheme, SKOS does not provide any mechanism to completely define a concept scheme." Could "describe" be used for this second meaning of "define"? That still seems imprecise for the specific cases in SHACL.)

Related Actions Items:

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Related emails:

1. Re: shapes-ISSUE-197 (Defined ): "Defined" and "declared" used in multiple ways, and not defined [SHACL Spec] (from holger@topquadrant.com on 2016-12-15)
2. Re: WG Process (was Re: shapes-ISSUE-197 (Defined ): "Defined" and "declared" used in multiple ways, and not defined [SHACL Spec)] (from lehors@us.ibm.com on 2016-11-29)
3. Re: shapes-ISSUE-197 (Defined ): "Defined" and "declared" used in multiple ways, and not defined [SHACL Spec] (from holger@topquadrant.com on 2016-11-28)
4. Re: shapes-ISSUE-197 (Defined ): "Defined" and "declared" used in multiple ways, and not defined [SHACL Spec] (from holger@topquadrant.com on 2016-11-28)
5. Re: shapes-ISSUE-197 (Defined ): "Defined" and "declared" used in multiple ways, and not defined [SHACL Spec] (from kcoyle@kcoyle.net on 2016-11-27)
6. Re: shapes-ISSUE-197 (Defined ): "Defined" and "declared" used in multiple ways, and not defined [SHACL Spec] (from irene@topquadrant.com on 2016-11-27)
7. Re: shapes-ISSUE-197 (Defined ): "Defined" and "declared" used in multiple ways, and not defined [SHACL Spec] (from kcoyle@kcoyle.net on 2016-11-27)
8. Re: shapes-ISSUE-197 (Defined ): "Defined" and "declared" used in multiple ways, and not defined [SHACL Spec] (from holger@topquadrant.com on 2016-11-27)
9. Re: shapes-ISSUE-197 (Defined ): "Defined" and "declared" used in multiple ways, and not defined [SHACL Spec] (from kcoyle@kcoyle.net on 2016-11-25)
10. Re: shapes-ISSUE-197 (Defined ): "Defined" and "declared" used in multiple ways, and not defined [SHACL Spec] (from irene@topquadrant.com on 2016-11-25)
11. Re: shapes-ISSUE-197 (Defined ): "Defined" and "declared" used in multiple ways, and not defined [SHACL Spec] (from kcoyle@kcoyle.net on 2016-11-25)
12. Re: shapes-ISSUE-197 (Defined ): "Defined" and "declared" used in multiple ways, and not defined [SHACL Spec] (from irene@topquadrant.com on 2016-11-24)
13. Re: shapes-ISSUE-197 (Defined ): "Defined" and "declared" used in multiple ways, and not defined [SHACL Spec] (from kcoyle@kcoyle.net on 2016-11-24)
14. Re: shapes-ISSUE-197 (Defined ): "Defined" and "declared" used in multiple ways, and not defined [SHACL Spec] (from holger@topquadrant.com on 2016-11-24)
15. Re: shapes-ISSUE-197 (Defined ): "Defined" and "declared" used in multiple ways, and not defined [SHACL Spec] (from irene@topquadrant.com on 2016-11-18)
16. shapes-ISSUE-197 (Defined ): "Defined" and "declared" used in multiple ways, and not defined [SHACL Spec] (from sysbot+tracker@w3.org on 2016-11-17)

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