What are GROVES?

1
What areGROVES?

• Peter Newcomb

2
What is a GROVE?

• A grove represents a structured collection of
  information objects.
• a document
• a database
• a graphic
• ...

3
What is a GROVE made of?

• A grove consists of a set of nodes.
• Each node represents an addressable information
  object.

4
Whats in a NODE?

• A node consists of a set of named values.
• Each named value is called a property
  assignment.

5
Whats a PROPERTY?

• A property is a named characteristic of an
  information object.
• Each property has a specific datatype.

6
What DATATYPES canproperties have?

• Primitive datatypes
• character, string, integer,
• string list, integer list,
• Nodal datatypes
• node, node list, named node list

7
Whats a NODAL DATATYPE?

• The value assigned to a nodal property is a
  node or list of nodes.
• Nodal properties represent relationships between
  information objects.

8
What kinds of NODAL RELATIONSHIPS are there?

• Subordinate (SUBNODE)
• forms hierarchies (trees) of nodes
• each grove is a single SUBNODE tree

9
What kinds of NODAL RELATIONSHIPS are there?

• Internal reference (IREFNODE)
• creates cross-references within a single grove

10
What kinds of NODAL RELATIONSHIPS are there?

• Unrestricted reference (UREFNODE)
• creates cross-references within or between groves
• a set of UREFNODE-connected groves is called a
  hypergrove.

11
How do I know what PROPERTIES a node will have?

• Each node is an instance of a named class of
  nodes.
• A node class defines a set of properties.

12
How do I know what NODE CLASSES a grove will have?

• The set of node classes that may be found in a
  grove is defined by the groves property set.
• A property set is a schema for groves.

13
What does a PROPERTY SET represent?

• A property set represents an abstract data model
  for a specific type of structured information.
• A property set is expressed as an SGML or XML
  document.

14
What is the GROVE model not?

• A programming interface (API)
• A data format, binary or otherwise

15
What is the GROVE model?

• An abstract generic data model
• A mechanism for defining specific data models

16
How do I use the GROVE model?

• Define an API to the generic data model
• How do I build a grove?
• How do I get the value of a property?
• How do I access list values?

17
How do I use the GROVE model?

• Define an API to a specific grove type
• Balise
• XML DOM

18
How do I use the GROVE model?

• Implement the API
• generically, for any grove type
• GroveMinder
• specifically, for one grove type
• Jade (James Clarks DSSSL engine)
• Any XML DOM implementation