Well, there is a trade-off. If we have too few types then it is harder for clients to use
the data and inconsistencies might slip in. But if we delay the approval of too many
properties because we want more types then we risk unnecessarily slowing the growth of the
database. It's all binary information ultimately. Datatypes just add some constraints
that block certain binary sequences from being stored in certain areas. The list of
properties that are awaiting specific datatypes are standard datatypes found in many
databases, but it is just an artifact of history that we consider those datatypes to be
standard. For example, you see that "number of floors" is awaiting the number
datatype. That's nice because it will prevent someone from entering "abc" as
the number of floors in the Burj Khalifa. But just constraining the information to be a
number doesn't prevent someone from entering -10 as the number of floors. So should we
add an additional datatype for positive integers? If we try to specify too many
server-side constraints on the information then our efforts to be supremely responsible
become irresponsible because, for example, we are just slowing the ability of Wikidata to
provide better templates to less popular language Wikipedias.
Date: Mon, 22 Apr 2013 11:56:37 +0200
From: kozuch82(a)gmail.com
To: wikidata-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org
Subject: Re: [Wikidata-l] phase 2 live on the first 11 Wikipedias
Why are there so many properties waiting on
http://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Wikidata:Property_proposal/Pending then???
2013/3/29 Michael Hale <hale.michael.jr(a)live.com
It would be nice to never have to do any additional validation on the client, but in
general I'm pretty sure it's impossible to specify server validation for every
type in advance. Let's assume I want to upload gene sequences. I could go through the
long process of waiting to get a new type approved and code added on the website just for
the minor check of making sure this is a string of just As, Gs, Cs, and Ts, or I could
just use generic strings and start right now.
Date: Fri, 29 Mar 2013 17:42:29 +0100
From: kozuch82(a)gmail.com
To: wikidata-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org
Subject: Re: [Wikidata-l] phase 2 live on the first 11 Wikipedias
parse it into a date on the client-side.
this is exactly why I do not want to do. we should validate inputs, not (try to) parse
outputs
2013/3/29 Michael Hale <hale.michael.jr(a)live.com
It doesn't hinder the expansion of Wikidata because the current types are flexible.
Added types will improve performance and simplify client access for some scenarios, but
every scenario I can think of is possible with the currently available types. If you have
data that you would like to enter, I suggest doing so and then you can switch some
properties to the new types when they are added if you want. The three types currently
supported for properties are lists of items, media, and strings. You can group different
types together for a single property by creating a new item to hold them. Soon you will be
able to add an extra property that can be used to differentiate values in a list, called a
qualifier. Other types are coming, but for example, if you want to use a date now you can
just use a string and then parse it into a date on the client-side.
Date: Fri, 29 Mar 2013 16:54:23 +0100
From: kozuch82(a)gmail.com
To: wikidata-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org
Subject: Re: [Wikidata-l] phase 2 live on the first 11 Wikipedias
Contrats! Anyways, I still miss various data types to be available for properties -
unavailability of these greatly hinders the expansion of wikidata database. Any plans on
how fast new (and comprehensive) data types will be introduced to wikidata.org?
2013/3/28 Daniel Kinzler <daniel.kinzler(a)wikimedia.de
On 28.03.2013 11:24, Lydia Pintscher wrote:
> In the announcement blog, {{#property:chief
executive officer}} is not
> ready, do you know the rough plan on this? maybe
end of Q2?
It should come soon. Hopefully already in the next
deployment but no
promises. We're currently figuring out the
schedule for that with
Easter complicating things a bit.
To give some idea in addition to what Lydia said:
I wrote the code for that just now, while on the train from Berlin. Now it needs
to be reviewed, tested, and, if all goes well, deployed. When that would be I'm
not sure, with people taking vacations over the holidays, but I'd speak of
weeks, not months. But it's quite a hunk of code, so delays are possible.
cheers,
daniel
--
Daniel Kinzler, Softwarearchitekt
Wikimedia Deutschland - Gesellschaft zur Förderung Freien Wissens e. V.
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