Set up our own UID for nodes

[ijmccallum]

Turns out the default ID that neo4j sets up is not something we should be using - here's why:

https://youtu.be/X786c-SbW6w?t=676

[ijmccallum]

Using the text as an id might work - but that ties us down a bit - I think some way to generate a UID we can depend on that doesn't rely on anything else would be amazing.

[DouglasUT2018]

I am aware of this and was happy with my solution - if only i could remember it! I think i decided we would refactor it all have initial prototypes to use the text. Why do you think it ties us down? For WL its very important that each claim is unique text otherwise we should not allow its creation and force them to use existing premise. That does not cover container nodes like argGroups but you will never get that directly by calling an id. You will instead just query all the attached nodes to the concluding claim.

[ijmccallum]

Languages (as in english / french / etc) worry me - also different meanings attached to the same word worries me. If we ever go down the route of having 2 claims with the same text but being different through different meanings on any word the text as an id idea breaks down / gets more difficult.

We could just use a counter and increment it with every new node - does that feel too simple? I can't think what I'd be overlooking but then again, I'm not a db pro!

[DouglasUT2018]

Just focus on English. Language is so far away from where we are its not even worth lip service in the design spec yet. Two different meanings is a little bit more concerning. But i think the premise should include the value of which definition to use so "i love[3] pounds[1]" is still different from "i love[3] pounds[2]". This raises a future problem of making sure any dictionary api we use does not rearrange their lists of definitions. I like the idea of building our own dictionary anyway but using others for not yet defined values.

However, if you insist, yes from my SQL experience i am reasonably confident you just use a counter that checks each value is unique. Obviously a local db and live db export will need to not include the id values and instead be reassigned on import

[ijmccallum]

It would make me feel better :)

Quite funny thinking this little chat could be here for eternity! (or as long as Github survives).

Good chat!

[DouglasUT2018]

Ok lets do it then.
That is real accountability!