caroluri
commented
1 year ago Our old taxonomy standard FAA-STD-066 said, "A taxonomy, as defined and used by this standard, is a hierarchical organization of categories or values used for classification. Classification helps users to find a single object from among a large collection of objects and facilitates the administration and analysis of a collection of objects." I would say there is a difference between an enumerated list of valid values for a property of something (e.g., a tropical cyclone can have a "maximum intensity" property whose enumerated values are Saffir-Simpson scale values TD, TS, C1, C2, C3, C4, C5) and an enumerated list of values used to classify something (e.g., a hurricane can be classified as a Cat 1, Cat 2, etc. according to the same Saffir-Simpson scale, here used as a taxonomy). I guess my feeling is to continue to use them both.
wznira
In SDCM 3.0, as it is currently rendered in multiple classes, there are two very similar classes: Taxonomy and Enumeration. Taxonomy is defined as
An Enumeration doesn't have a formal definition in the model but is generally understood as
Both concepts serve the same purpose: to limit elements or attribute values to a predefined, finite set. Probably, it can be said that an Enumeration in SDCM is a simple (non-hierarchical) form of Taxonomy. Also, an Enumeration is always defined inline, inside a model or schema, whereas a Taxonomy is defined outside of a model and exists as a stand-alone entity.
The question: should we continue to use two classes and accordingly define them both, or use a single class Taxonomy with the understanding that it may be defined either inside or outside a model/schema and be both hierarchical or non-hierarchical?