[drupal-docs] node definition

[puregin]

     I'm with Farsheed here.  I think it's best
from the point of view of exposition to lie
a little sometimes.  Let people become
familiar with the ordinary, customary,
or usual situation, and only reveal that
there are exceptions when it's necessary
to know.

     I'm a bit of a math freak too, but
I'm inclined to see the point that the
great writer Graham Greene makes (in
"The Heart of the Matter"):

     "The truth [...] has never been of any real
value to any human being - it is a symbol for
mathematicians and philosophers to pursue.
In human relations kindness and lies are worth
a thousand truths."

    Let's be kind to our readers :)

    Djun





On 28 Aug 2005, at 10:54 PM, Farsheed wrote:

> I think perhaps there should be a very, very, very,
> layman definition of "node" which could be one
> sentence, and then has more details underneath it.
> Then a medium-technical definition, and finally, a
> super-technical definition.  Having three definitions
> of increasing complexity allows a reader to gradually
> learn starting from a conceptual overview and then
> finally dive into nitty gritty details if they want.
> Probably talking about a database in a layman
> definition would be confusing, since an average
> beginner may not even know what a database is.
>
> Novice technical definition:
>
> Node: n.,
> A single piece of content that is published on a
> Drupal site. Examples: a blog post, forum topic,
> single image.
>
> More details:
> A single node can be organized using categories, and
> other people can leave comments about it.  Example: a
> blog post can be categorized under "sports" and then
> other people can leave comments on that blog post.
>
>
>
>
> --- Charlie Lowe <cel4145 at cyberdash.com> wrote:
>
>
>> 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