[drupal-docs] node definition

[Charlie Lowe]

As a former "math freak," I can see where you are coming from. Graph 
theory seems applicable for a better theoretical understanding of the 
node abstraction layer. But you'll also lose lots of people with that 
way of definining them. How about this (a rewrite of what already exists):

Nodes are the basic, user-publishable content type in Drupal, the basic 
posts that people make to a Drupal site. Stories, polls, forums, blogs, 
etc., are all different node types. Each time a user creates a story, 
poll, forum, blog, etc., Drupal stores it as a node in the site's 
database. Nodes can also have comments attached and/or be tagged with 
categories (taxonomy). They can be displayed in a variety of ways, such 
as by node type or category.

Karoly Negyesi wrote:
> http://drupal.org/node/937
> 
> Node
> Nodes are probably the hardest Drupal concept to grasp but they are 
> really  quite simple. Almost all content in Drupal is stored as a node. 
> When  people refer to "a node" all they mean is a piece of content 
> within  Drupal, it could be a poll, a story, a book page an image etc.
> 
> I doubt this being correct. Is a 'product' in a webshop content for  
> example? A group of users as in og.module? No. We need something better  
> here. Here are my two cents on the definition -- note that I am a math  
> freak. Node is among other things is a synonym for vertex in graph 
> theory.  I can imagine two types of graphs in this context: one is that 
> nodes are  built by node type modules and nodeapi stuff and these cross, 
> we find a  node. Also, taxonomy terms can be thought of edges between 
> nodes (that  taxonomy also has hierarchy is irrevelant this context).
> 
> In layman terms, node is something where stuff comes together. ..
> 
> Regards
> 
> NK