* trademarks of somebody.
It offers Mix-and-Match methods and need not be adopted as a whole to provide benefits. It continues the proud Xanadu tradition on a public-domain basis:
OSMIC is a data structure. (OO is all very well, but it doesn't allow you to create new visualizations; OSMIC does.)
Everything is assumed to be made of pieces with canonical network addresses. (How cached copies are resolved to their global addresses is a matter of local discretion.) These addresses point to the original contents, or Primedia.
Background recommendation:
PARALLELIZATION, NO EMBEDDED DATA. We recommend breaking out each form of data into parallel streams wherever possible, to facilitate addressing, re-use and pluralistic markup.
For instance, SGML or HTML can be broken out as:
(By courtesy, SGML amd HTML may retain their native forms, but the character count ignores the tags.)
Basic concept:
the VERSION.
The operative unit is the version, not the document.
Relationships among versions are handled the same way, regardless of whether they are versions of the same thing.
A version is typically virtual, a list of pieces:
More formally, a version is
CONNECTIONS I: TRANSCLUSIONS.
Transclusion is basically very simple:
ABOUT TRANSCLUSION. Always the heart of Xanadu, the transclusion principle means that conceptually there is only one copy of anything. Any piece of text, audio, etc., is treated as a manifestation of a cosmic original. (When you see a God or Saint in the road, is he a copy?) CRITERIA: Link to any portion is present on all manifestations; different contexts viewable side-by-side; feed and sale are from original.)
This means that the principal use of computer resources is to maintain the entanglements (in the quantum-physics sense) among the various instances.
Think of transclusion as a particular form of identic data relationship. There are various forms of identic data relationship, different in key details: copy, instance, counted reference, write-through cached copy, write-back cached copy... Transclusion is a highly general type.
Its benefits can include:
CONNECTIONS II:
HIGHLY GENERALIZED PLURALISTIC LINKS.
The link is
It has a number (or address) and a type (coment, illustration, disagreement, authorship...)
This, then, is the BUTTERFLY TROUSER LINK, a term which reinforces understanding.
LINK OPERATIONS are nontrivial, requiring many address comparisons. For instance, to follow a link from Version A to Version B:
Find addresses in Version A contained in link Find addresses in Version B contained in link Display as appropriate.
WHAT DO WE MEAN BY 'PLURALISTIC LINKS'?
We mean that everybody must be able to make first-rate links to anything.
WRONG APPROACHES: in HTML, only the author can create links. In some hypermedia packages, users are allowed to "create links" -- but they are decidedly inferior.
In the OSMIC standard, THE AUTHOR'S LINKS ARE NO DIFFERENT FROM ANYONE ELSE'S IN ¨IMPLEMENTATION (though superior in prestige and legitimacy.) For instance:
Note that all links are implemented identically and may be followed identically.
This is what we mean by Pluralism.
The OSMIC
HYPERDOC is a highly generalized document, potentially with time travel and persistent links and transclusion across time travel.
A Hyperdoc is:
HYPEROPS.
THE REVERSIBLE HYPEROPS:
REARRANGE
Change the address pointers.
(DELETE
is actually REARRANGE TO LIMBO. We suggest, as a practical
hack, rearranging to negative addresses.)
TRANSCLUDE
(
"JOIN,"
compl. of version FORK)
INSERT POINTERS TO MATERIAL FROM ONE VERSION INTO ANOTHER.
MAKE/CHANGE LINK
MAKE/CHANGE STRUCTURE MAP
(Note that Support mechanisms for tracking or jumping to any particular Version-State are local and implementation-dependent.)
OWNERSHIP
You may own Primedia Elements. (Which may be transcluded.)
You may own Links. (Which may be transcluded.)
You may own a Nameplex (which may be transcluded to another nameplex, provided that the receiving Nameplex is unique).
However, for SIMPLE, CLEAN IMPLEMENTABILITY, I suggest that only copies of Primedia be salable.
NOTE THAT BECAUSE ALL PRIMEDIA ELEMENTS ARE OWNED, TRANSCLUSION IS DEEMED TO BE FROM AN ORIGINAL HYPERDOC OR VERSION TO ALL ITS MANIFESTATIONS.
1.4- FLUSH
SALE, esp. of compound documents.
The user buys (downloads) a compound document purchasing each portion of primedia from its respective publisher. A receipt is sent with each portion.
(There is no cost for virtually including primedia in a document; only the downloader pays. (Although the quoting author is assumed to have bought one copy, or could not be constructing this work.))