TAP: Summary

[Keith Noddle]

Chaps,

I've been overwhelmed (figuratively and literally) by the sheer volume 
and depth of discussion that has gone into TAP of late; thank you one 
and all. We have under three weeks remaining until the Strasbourg 
Interop and I think everyone is agreed: we MUST have TAP ready to take 
the next step in the standards process at the end of that meeting.

My roadmap for TAP is as follows:

* Review and categorise remaining discussion points
* Anything that is not absolutely critical to TAP V1.0 should be
   moved to TAP V1.1
* Discuss and reach agreement on TAP V1.0 points
* Publish TAP V0.5 before Strasbourg
* Discuss details in Strasbourg
* Move TAP forwards in the standards process very soon after the
   Interop with the aim of getting a recommended standard in the
   weeks following the meeting

=====================================================

Bigger brains than mine have been discussing issues I confess I find 
hard to follow. However, as an adherent of Occam's Razor, I find myself 
agreeing with Roy, Doug and Pat: now is the time to keep things as 
simple as possible (but no simpler!). With that in mind, it seems to me 
the following is the list of points outstanding:

V1.0:
• Sync column metadata decisions and VODataService
• FIELD/PARAM format attribute (VOTable V1.2)
• Articulate scope and role of the parameter query

V1.1:
• UTYPE in queries
• VOSpace integration
• Supported ADQL function capabilities
• Extend TAP_SCHEMA and VODataService to describe primary and
   foreign keys
• Tableset metadata

Note that I have arbitrarily allocated each issue to a version - please 
feel free to amend this list. Hopefully I'm somewhere near, so I 
therefore ask that we *focus heavily on the V1.0 issues* and return to 
the others post TAP V1.0 reaching REC. At least itemising everything on 
the mailing list means nothing should be lost.

One last push, then beers in Strasbourg!

Keith.

-- 
Keith Noddle                    Phone:  +44 (0)116 223 1894
AstroGrid Project manager       Fax:    +44 (0)116 252 3311
Dept of Physics & Astronomy     Mobile: +44 (0)7721 926 461
University of Leicester         Skype:  keithnoddle
Leicester                       Email:  ktn at star.le.ac.uk
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