76: " The empty search term [example d] has no defined semantics."
So CQL does not define a query like a <> "" to retrieve all non-empty
strings? If so, I find that an unnecessary restriction (and line 299
suggests you did too, so the statement here is too broad.) True,
whitespace is a problem, but it's a problem that can be defined. It's
problematic to allow an empty search term without an index or
relation; but the answer to that is to ban the empty search term from
occurring without quotes (or at most, without an index and relation).
56: Context sets are repeatedly mentioned in the document, but are not
introduced until line 193. This is confusing, and I don't see why 2.3
can't move as is to the start of the document.
86: "If multiple '.' characters are present, then the first should be
treated as the prefix/base name delimiter". This means that a context
set name cannot start with a dot?
87: "If the prefix is not supplied, it is determined by the server".
Say explicitly it is cql.anyIndexes. Why is there a distinction
between cql.anyIndexes and cql.serverChoice?
131: "the prox operator is". Sentence incomplete. (I'm not really
surprised... :-) Forward reference to 2.1.9?
149: "Within the CQL set they [proximity terms] are explicitly
undefined, subject to interpretation by the server." How can I find
out how the server has chosen to interpret them? I find the refusal to
define their behaviour a concern. People will make the obvious
orthographically-based assumptions about the meaning of word,
sentence, paragraph, and will not be happy if that is not what's
implemented. Obviously what counts as a word depends on locale, but
locale settings telling you what a word is already exist, and they are
what CQL should refer to. (Locale is already assumed, after all, in
the definition of sort.)
BNF: comparator, not comparitor
199: "Context sets permit CQL users to create their own indexes,
relations, relation modifiers and boolean modifiers". Sort modifiers
too.
200: "and there are rules to determine the prevailing default set is
not supplied". if it is not supplied.
203: "When defining a new context set, it is necessary to provide a
description of the semantics of each item within it". No minimum
requirements for this description are provided.
207: "Each context set has a unique identifier, a URI". Not
necessarily an HTTP URI. You should introduce the info-uri schema here.
208: "When sending the context set in a query, a short form, or
nickname, is used". These have already been called prefixes above, and
should still be to avoid confusion. (The connection is only made in
the next paragraph.)
234: "cql.resultSetId = "a" AND cql.resultSetId = "b" " I'm surprised
this works, since the instance of the record is unique to a result
set. Does the wording of the response set data model explicitly
license such result set manipulation?
244: "allIndexes". Remind readers that this is not equivalent to a
full text search.
258: "keywords". Note that the search terms in the keywords index need
not be present in any other defined index. (Are they still included in
cql.allIndexes? Presumably yes.)
271. "=". How can I find out how a server has implemented "="?
284. "==". Remind readers that CQL does not strip whitespace, so the
index better had.
301. "<" etc. I would insert a textual comparison example, since
textual comparisons are defined (subject to the locale), and
comparisons are not limited to numbers.
311. "adj". You've dodged any mention of word delimiters in the
adjacency definition, but clearly adjacency is meaningless without the
notion of a delimiter. The delimiter, again, is determined by the
locale.
314. "The query could also be expressed using the PROX boolean
operator". By a sequence of PROX queries, one for each adjacent pair.
323. "These relations [all, any] have an implicit relation modifier of
'cql.word', which may be changed by use of alternative relation
modifiers.". That presumably also holds for "adj".
334. "Within may be used with a search term that has multiple
dimensions". You haven't said how dimensions are specified; the
examples use space delimiters, but more geometrical applications might
use commas. It would be better to fix space as the default delimiter
here, since that's what people will implement by example, and giving
such a default would help syntactic interoperability, as is your
avowed aim.
352. "stem". Being the same stem is different from being the same
lemma, and often lemma is what you actually want (e.g. "computer" and
"computers" but not "computing".) I'd make the distinction here ---
especially for languages not as morphology-poor as English.
362. "partial". Word fragments could also usefully be searched in
normal searches.
375. "locale=value". Rather than giving illustrative examples, say
that locales are used as understood under Unix, and refer to a more
canonical listing (in whatever gizzards of BSD or Java that might
reside). It'd be nice if you could move away from "C" as a locale and
just used ISO, but that's a big ask....
412. A more useful illustration of string searches would be one that
includes spaces or punctuation.
495. "container=field" sits clumsily with how indexes are normally
defined. Is a query like "author = jack prox author = jones" well-
defined? Is "author = jack prox title = jones"? (It shouldn't be.) Is
"author = jack prox/container=title author = jones"? (Again it
shouldn't be).
I've asked Ray to forward my comments on the bib context set to the
ZNG list where they were first posted, but I'll post them here too
separately.
On 08/04/2009, at 06:20, wrote:
> For discussion at next Monday's call, April 13.
>
> -- Ray Denenberg
>
> The document named Contextual Query Language
> (cql-first-draft-april-6-2009.doc) has been submitted by Ray
> Denenberg to
> the OASIS Search Web Services TC document repository.
>
> Document Description:
>
>
> View Document Details:
> http://www.oasis-open.org/committees/document.php?document_id=31986
>
> Download Document:
> http://www.oasis-open.org/committees/download.php/31986/cql-first-draft-april-6-2009.doc
>
>
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>
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