ISSUE-221: Simplify the class hierarchy of shapes

sh:Shape hierarchy

Simplify the class hierarchy of shapes

State:

CLOSED

Product:

SHACL - Core

Raised by:

Dimitris Kontokostas

Opened on:

2017-01-25

Description:

as a task from today;s resolution on ISSUE-211 I created this issue

The current editors draft defines three classes for shapes:
sh:Shape with the following subclasses
-> sh:NodeShape
-> sh:PropertyShape

However, all shape-expecting constraint components (sh:shape, sh:or, sh:and) use only sh:Shape and do not distinguish between the two subclasses.

The only exception is sh:property that expects a property shape.
This, however, creates redundancy in the shape definitions e.g.

ex:a a sh:Shape
sh:shape [
sh:path ex:name;
sh:minCount 1;
]

is the equivalent shape for

ex:a a sh:Shape
sh:property [
sh:path ex:name;
sh:minCount 1;
]

In addition, property shapes, as a separate subclass of sh:shape, are not needed anywhere else in the spec. There very few occurrences can be easily reworded.

This indicates that the only reason for this hierarchy is sh:property and this is something that can be defined with sh:shape.

It would be a great simplification if we removed both subclasses and kept only sh:Shape as defined in
https://jimkont.github.io/data-shapes/shacl/core.html#shacl-shapes
https://jimkont.github.io/data-shapes/shacl/core.html#value-nodes

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Related emails:

1. Re: shapes-ISSUE-221 (sh:Shape hierarchy): Simplify the class hierarchy of shapes [SHACL - Core] (from kontokostas@informatik.uni-leipzig.de on 2017-02-01)
2. Re: shapes-ISSUE-221 (sh:Shape hierarchy): Simplify the class hierarchy of shapes [SHACL - Core] (from kontokostas@informatik.uni-leipzig.de on 2017-01-26)
3. Re: shapes-ISSUE-221 (sh:Shape hierarchy): Simplify the class hierarchy of shapes [SHACL - Core] (from holger@topquadrant.com on 2017-01-26)
4. Re: shapes-ISSUE-221 (sh:Shape hierarchy): Simplify the class hierarchy of shapes [SHACL - Core] (from kontokostas@informatik.uni-leipzig.de on 2017-01-26)
5. Re: shapes-ISSUE-220 (what is a shape): defining shapes in a shapes graph [SHACL - Core] (from kontokostas@informatik.uni-leipzig.de on 2017-01-26)
6. Re: shapes-ISSUE-221 (sh:Shape hierarchy): Simplify the class hierarchy of shapes [SHACL - Core] (from holger@topquadrant.com on 2017-01-26)
7. shapes-ISSUE-221 (sh:Shape hierarchy): Simplify the class hierarchy of shapes [SHACL - Core] (from sysbot+tracker@w3.org on 2017-01-25)

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