[Data-modeling] Intervals as a primitive data type

[Tom Morris]

On Sun, Feb 22, 2009 at 8:24 PM, Kirrily Robert <kirrily at metaweb.com> wrote:

>>> There is a type, /measurement_unit/time_interval which can be used
>>
>> Thanks for the pointer.  I completely missed that because I was
>> looking in the time domain.  I can use that in my modeling even if it
>> doesn't get any additional support.
>
> The main way you would usually find this is in the schema editor
> where, if you say that the expected type is a date/time, then "time
> interval" is one of the secondary selections available to you.  You
> shouldn't need to find this by browsing the commons, generally
> speaking.  If you didn't notice it there, I'd be interested to know
> what was going on, in case it's something we can improve in our UI.

I don't typically go to the schema editor until I know what it is that
I want to model and how.  It's not really conducive to exploring.

Things that would help:

- Use the type in common places that people would see.  For better or
worse, most people model by imitating what's been done already.  If
Person had a lifespan time_interval or Event used a time_interval, I
would have seen it immediately.
- Include the type's description text and id in the schema editor so
that you can tell what it actually does.  (I just discovered that the
type id is buried in a tooltip, but I've used the schema editor for
weeks without seeing it)
- Provide a way to jump to the schema of a target type and see
instances that use it

As an aside, I always thought that choice in the schema editor was a
duration and I was clearly not alone since it's used for things like
cell phone standby time and other things with property names of
'duration.'

Tom