Shared variables, was: Re: XDI TC Notes Unofficial Telecon Friday 2015-11-09

Regarding our action item, I really wonder if we could just use $1, $2, $3, etc numbers as variables, e.g. do something like this for a registrar link contract:

  (+!:uuid:0000/+!:uuid:8888)#registrar$do/$set/{|$1|}

  (+!:uuid:0000/+!:uuid:8888)#registrar$do/$del/{|$1|}

  (+!:uuid:0000/+!:uuid:8888)(#registrar$do$if$and/$true){$from}/$is/+!:uuid:8888  

  (+!:uuid:0000/+!:uuid:8888)(#registrar$do$if$and/$true){$msg}<$sig><$valid>/&/true

  (+!:uuid:0000/+!:uuid:8888)(#registrar$do$if$and/$true){|$1|}/#registrar/+!:uuid:8888

Or maybe a little bit more precise would be:

  (+!:uuid:0000/+!:uuid:8888)#registrar$do/$set/{|$1|}

  (+!:uuid:0000/+!:uuid:8888)#registrar$do/$del/{|$2|}

  (+!:uuid:0000/+!:uuid:8888)(#registrar$do$if$and/$true){$from}/$is/+!:uuid:8888  

  (+!:uuid:0000/+!:uuid:8888)(#registrar$do$if$and/$true){$msg}<$sig><$valid>/&/true

  (+!:uuid:0000/+!:uuid:8888)(#registrar$do$if$and$or/$true){|$1|}/#registrar/+!:uuid:8888
  (+!:uuid:0000/+!:uuid:8888)(#registrar$do$if$and$or/$true){|$2|}/#registrar/+!:uuid:8888

The rule is that {|$1|} must match exactly the same arc(s) every time it is used, same for {|$2|}

Thoughts?

Markus

On Mon, Nov 9, 2015 at 10:00 PM, Markus Sabadello <> wrote:

XDI TC Notes

Following are the notes of the unofficial telecon of the XDI TC held on:

Date: Monday, 9 November 2015 USA
Time: 10:00AM - 11:30AM Pacific Time (17:00-18:30 UTC)

The TC operates under a standing rule approved 17 July 2008 under which the TC does not hold regular official meetings and conducts all business by electronic ballot only. Unofficial weekly meetings are held to enable discussion among members but no business is conducted nor actions taken.
ATTENDING
Peter Davis
Markus Sabadello
Drummond Reed
Les Chasen
Dan Blum
REGRETS
Christopher Allen
Lionel Wolberger

AGENDAIIW and Rebooting the Web-of-Trust Workshop Report
Drummond, Les, Joseph, Markus can report from the Internet Identity Workshop and Rebooting the Web-of-Trust conferences.

Markus reported that there was a very high level of interest in a decentralized XDI registry service that would be rooted in blockchain technologies. Lionel did a great job of chairing the meetings and driving forward continued work on a strawman proposal from the XDI.org Registry Working Group. There was a great deal of interest in how a decentralized registry would work and what could be built with it.

That particular topic also helped bring more clarity to the role of XDI, because it is easier to understand it’s role in relation to leveraging the blockchain.

Markus, Drummond, and Christopher also attended the Rebooting the Web-of-Trust “design shop” that included 30+ people highly involved in the Bitcoin blockchain, Blockstack, Ethereum, IPFS (Interplanetary File System), and other related decentralized trust infrastructure.
Review Registrar Link Contracts
Let’s review proposed link contracts by a registry to a registrar, and how XDI variables are used:

https://www.oasis-open.org/committees/document.php?document_id=56879&wg_abbrev=xdi

  EXAMPLE registered XDI name and number:

  (=!:uuid:1111)/$is$ref/(=alice)

  (=alice)/$ref/(=!:uuid:1111)

  (=!:uuid:1111)<$xdi><$uri>/&/"https://... xdi endpoint .../"

  (=!:uuid:1111)/#registrar/+!:uuid:8888

  EXAMPLE link contract for registrar to add XDI name and number:

  (+!:uuid:0000/+!:uuid:8888)$add$do/$add/{()}

  (+!:uuid:0000/+!:uuid:8888)($add$do$if$and/$true){$from}/$is/+!:uuid:8888  

  (+!:uuid:0000/+!:uuid:8888)($add$do$if$and/$true){$msg}<$sig><$valid>/&/true

  (better) EXAMPLE link contract for registrar to modify/delete existing XDI name and number:

  (+!:uuid:0000/+!:uuid:8888)#registrar$do/$set/{|$1|}

  (+!:uuid:0000/+!:uuid:8888)#registrar$do/$del/{|$1|}

  (+!:uuid:0000/+!:uuid:8888)(#registrar$do$if$and/$true){$from}/$is/+!:uuid:8888  

  (+!:uuid:0000/+!:uuid:8888)(#registrar$do$if$and/$true){$msg}<$sig><$valid>/&/true

  (+!:uuid:0000/+!:uuid:8888)(#registrar$do$if$and/$true){|$1|}/#registrar/+!:uuid:8888

  (+!:uuid:0000/+!:uuid:8888)#registrar$do{|$1|} / $is# / {()}

  (+!:uuid:0000/+!:uuid:8888)(#registrar$do/$set){|()|} / $is / {$1}

  (+!:uuid:0000/+!:uuid:8888)(#registrar$do/$del){|()|} / $is / {$1}

  (+!:uuid:0000/+!:uuid:8888)(#registrar$do$if$and/$true){|()|} / $is / {$1}

  (easy) EXAMPLE link contract for registrar to modify/delete existing XDI name and number:

  (+!:uuid:0000/+!:uuid:8888)#registrar$do/$set/(=!:uuid:1111)

  (+!:uuid:0000/+!:uuid:8888)#registrar$do/$set/(=!:uuid:2222)

  (+!:uuid:0000/+!:uuid:8888)#registrar$do/$set/(=alice)

  (+!:uuid:0000/+!:uuid:8888)#registrar$do/$set/(=bob)

  (+!:uuid:0000/+!:uuid:8888)#registrar$do/$del/(=!:uuid:1111)

  (+!:uuid:0000/+!:uuid:8888)#registrar$do/$del/(=!:uuid:2222)

  (+!:uuid:0000/+!:uuid:8888)#registrar$do/$del/(=alice)

  (+!:uuid:0000/+!:uuid:8888)#registrar$do/$del/(=bob)

  (+!:uuid:0000/+!:uuid:8888)(#registrar$do$if$and/$true){$from}/$is/+!:uuid:8888

  (+!:uuid:0000/+!:uuid:8888)(#registrar$do$if$and/$true){$msg}<$sig><$valid>/&/true

In the above link contract examples, there is a need to state that two variables used in the link contract must be instantiated to the same subgraph. In other words, a registrar should only be able to modify/delete entries if the registrar is the "sponsoring" registrar (as indicated by the #registrar relational statement).

# ACTION ITEM: DRUMMOND AND LES AND MARKUS to propose a solution for shared variables in a specific context.
Post-Core
We discussed the next steps after approving XDI Core 1.0 CD01. The first step is to complete the job of publishing the Committee Specification Draft.

# ACTION ITEM - Editors to work with Chet & team to get it published.

Dan provided some feedback:

He feels it needs more of an overview of the sections of the spec and the components of the information model. Dan is willing to help with this.

There were some places that were more “inside baseball” about how XDI compares to RDF.

There will still some sections, such as the discussion of roots, that are still not clear enough. Dan suggested that it might be improved by explaining what each type of root is for, and providing an example.

Drummond suggested taking steps to standardize on using JIRA for any revisions. The first step is making sure everyone has access to JIRA.

# ACTION ITEM: EDITORS to work with Chet on JIRA setup.
Proposed Notes from the XDI TC
The discussion about the introductory materials led to a larger discussion about Notes that the TC could published. Two proposals were discussed:

A new XDI Overview document that would be intended for audiences that are not yet familiar with semantic graph technologies like RDF.

The How XDI Builds on RDF paper that we have been planning for some months now that specifically explains XDI from an RDF perspective. Drummond said that this paper is now needed more than ever.

NEXT REGULAR CALL
The next call will be the following week at the usual time (Monday 10AM PT). The link to where agenda items can be posted for the next meeting is: https://docs.google.com/document/d/19oDl0lbb56Grehx2a5flZnhrgnua5l8cVvC_dJ8fTXk/edit?usp=sharing