Re: Geographic v. topological address allocation

["Jay R. Ashworth" <jra () scfn thpl lib fl us>]

On Mon, Nov 17, 1997 at 02:16:57PM -0600, Sean Donelan wrote:
> > An object name like an ISBN does not need to be
> > hierarchical because they do not describe discrete
> > locations.  Introducing hierarchy improves managability
> > and efficiency of databasing.  Many hierarchies can be
> > imposed on object names.
>
> If there isn't, there should be a theory in computer science
> with enough levels of indirection you can solve any problem,
> i.e. ISBN->Call Number->Shelf Location.  Trick question: Does
> a LC Call number describe a location in a topology or an object
> name?

It maps a subject to a location in an (arbitrary) topology (ie: library
shelves).

Note that call number -> shelf location is a one to one (for
sufficiently granular call numbers), but ISBN-> call number is
_guaranteed_ to be one to one; ISBNae are unique.

End of off topic thread.  :-)

Cheers,
-- jra
-- 
Jay R. Ashworth                                                jra () baylink com
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