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Tanit Posted 15 years ago
Vocabulary
Keep hierarchies to shallow
Hi,
Please have a look at the following paragraph, taken from an Ordnance Survey technical report (if interested, it's here, on page 14).
A general principle is to keep hierarchies to shallow and use inheritance sparingly and only when it is genuinely required. Deep hierarchies make it difficult for concepts at the bottom of a hierarchy to be reused since they take with them a significant amount of baggage which may conflict with the structure of the receiving ontology. In fact a starting point for many ontologies are existing taxonomies which tend to have deep hierarchies, because the only relationship available for expression is the hierarchical one, and often this is misused.
I am not sure about that "keep ... to shallow" part.
1. Does "keep hierarchies to shallow" mean "don't build hierarchies having too many levels/tiers"?
2. I tried to guess the meaning of "keep hierarchies to shallow" from the context, and I assumed it was in contrast with "deep hierarchies," which I took to mean "hierarchies with lots of levels/tiers" ... or is this assumption incorrect?
3. Is shallow being used as a noun here? As a verb? I don't understand the structure.
Thank you very much!
Please have a look at the following paragraph, taken from an Ordnance Survey technical report (if interested, it's here, on page 14).
A general principle is to keep hierarchies to shallow and use inheritance sparingly and only when it is genuinely required. Deep hierarchies make it difficult for concepts at the bottom of a hierarchy to be reused since they take with them a significant amount of baggage which may conflict with the structure of the receiving ontology. In fact a starting point for many ontologies are existing taxonomies which tend to have deep hierarchies, because the only relationship available for expression is the hierarchical one, and often this is misused.
I am not sure about that "keep ... to shallow" part.
1. Does "keep hierarchies to shallow" mean "don't build hierarchies having too many levels/tiers"?
2. I tried to guess the meaning of "keep hierarchies to shallow" from the context, and I assumed it was in contrast with "deep hierarchies," which I took to mean "hierarchies with lots of levels/tiers" ... or is this assumption incorrect?
3. Is shallow being used as a noun here? As a verb? I don't understand the structure.
Thank you very much!
Top answer
Hello Tanit, Having read through some of the document, and noted occasional typos and misedits, I would take the phrase as an error for "to keep hierarchies shallow". I would then say that your interpretations in #1 and #2 are correct. All the best, MrP
- Hello Tanit, Having read through some of the document, and noted occasional typos and misedits, I would take the phrase as an error for "to keep hierarchies shallow".
- I would then say that your interpretations in #1 and #2 are correct.
- All the best, MrP
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3 Answers
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Hello Tanit,
Having read through some of the document, and noted occasional typos and misedits, I would take the phrase as an error for "to keep hierarchies shallow".
I would then say that your interpretations in #1 and #2 are correct.
All the best,
MrP
Having read through some of the document, and noted occasional typos and misedits, I would take the phrase as an error for "to keep hierarchies shallow".
I would then say that your interpretations in #1 and #2 are correct.
All the best,
MrP
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Thanks, MrP!
It was being as an adjective, then!
The idea of a mistake/misprint didn't cross my mind, doh!
(It's soooo nice to have you back here!
It was being as an adjective, then!
The idea of a mistake/misprint didn't cross my mind, doh!
(It's soooo nice to have you back here!
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Thank you!
(Yes, I would take it as an adjective. Even if the phrasing is intentional, and is therefore idiosyncratic, rather than the product of a typo, it would have the same meaning.)
Best wishes,
MrP
(Yes, I would take it as an adjective. Even if the phrasing is intentional, and is therefore idiosyncratic, rather than the product of a typo, it would have the same meaning.)
Best wishes,
MrP
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