[Taxonomy WG] Proposal: Refine the meaning and usage of the term "Taxonomy"

[eddie-knight]

Problem

Currently, there is a lack of clarity surrounding the term "taxonomy," with contributors using the phrases "top-level taxonomy" and "service-level taxonomy" due to a lack of clarity regarding the terminology intent.

Proposed Solution

According to a cursory search:

Taxonomy is the science of classification, especially the classification of living and extinct organisms. It involves the identification, naming, and grouping of organisms based on their shared characteristics, such as morphology, physiology, and genetics. Taxonomy is used to create a hierarchical system of classification, with each level representing a more general or more specific group of organisms.

Extending this definition, I propose that we use the term "taxonomy" strictly for the purposes of describing the complete list of services covered by this project. The taxonomy will contain multiple service categories, such as "Compute" and "Storage". Subsequently, each "Service Category" will contain a list of features that are common to that category.

Where the README.md will contain a comprehensive overview of the taxonomy of services, and each sub-directory is a "Service Category." Within each subdirectory will be entries for each subsequent "Service Type."

For example, the corresponding directory structure could be:

└── taxonomy
    ├── README.md
    ├── ai-ml
    ├── analytics
    ├── application-integrations
    ├── compute
    ├── database
    ├── developer-tools
    ├── management-governance
    ├── network-service
    ├── security-identity
    └── storage
        ├── archival-storage
        ├── block-storage
        ├── file-storage
        └── object-storage

Concluding, I suggest that a glossary be provided with the following definitions, and the codebase be adjusted accordingly:

• service: a resource with a unique feature set
• service type: a list of services that share a common set of features within their unique feature set
• service category: a list of service types that share a common purpose, but diverge in feature sets
• taxonomy: the entire list of services and the categories they are organized into

[github-actions[bot]]

This issue will be closed as stale in 7 days. Please update this issue if it is still needed.

[eddie-knight]

@smendis-scottlogic I'm going to close this issue, but ask that you keep this phrasing consideration in mind as appropriate in the future. 🙇‍♂️