[sword-devel] Av11n and coverage

[Chris Little]

On 1/6/2012 1:29 AM, David Haslam wrote:
> Extending Peter's concept, might we also make the book order something that
> can be worked with by front-end developers?
>
> e.g. For the NT in Eastern Canonical order we might have:
>
> Scope=Matt-Acts James-Jude Rom-Heb Rev
>
> i.e. with the General Epistles ordered prior to the Pauline Epistles.

I am very much against this idea. (I have no problem with different book 
orders, and would happily add a new v11n system if the need can be 
proven to me and the data can be provided to me.)

Scope/Coverage is very strongly dependent on the reference system (v11n) 
used. And other aspects of the library, such as verse reference 
resolution, are very dependent on the reference system as well. An 
osisRef such as "Matt-Jude" has to mean something within the context of 
a particular reference system. In the KJV v11n, this means all of the 
text of the NT except Revelation. If we were to support use of 
Scope/Coverage to re-order books, we would be creating new de facto 
v11ns. Under the above Scope, the osisRef "Matt-Jude" has a very 
different meaning from what would be expected, assuming the KJV v11n 
were still employed.

Fundamentally, I think we should avoid adding new, complex methods of 
solving problems for which we already have solutions. In particular, the 
book-ordering issue can already be addressed by addition of new v11ns. 
The number of cases where two v11ns differ only in the ordering of their 
books is probably quite minimal and better served by adding a new v11n.

> This would be a further step towards "canon neutrality" as expounded by Neil
> Rees ("Studge") at BibleTech 2010.

I'm also not clear on how this would achieve canon neutrality.

--Chris