/ 
bioperl-1.4
/ Bio::Ontology::Relationship

NAME

Relationship - a relationship for an ontology

SYNOPSIS

$rel = Bio::Ontology::Relationship->new( -identifier     => "16847",
                                         -subject_term   => $subj,
                                         -object_term    => $obj,
                                         -predicate_term => $pred );

DESCRIPTION

This is a basic implementation of Bio::Ontology::RelationshipI.

The terminology we use here is the one commonly used for ontologies, namely the triple of (subject, predicate, object), which in addition is scoped in a namespace (ontology). It is called triple because it is a tuple of three ontology terms.

There are other terminologies in use for expressing relationships. For those who it helps to better understand the concept, the triple of (child, relationship type, parent) would be equivalent to the terminology chosen here, disregarding the question whether the notion of parent and child is sensible in the context of the relationship type or not. Especially in the case of ontologies with a wide variety of predicates the parent/child terminology and similar ones can quickly become ambiguous (e.g., A synthesises B), meaningless (e.g., A binds B), or even conflicting (e.g., A is-parent-of B), and are therefore strongly discouraged.

FEEDBACK

Mailing Lists

User feedback is an integral part of the evolution of this and other Bioperl modules. Send your comments and suggestions preferably to the Bioperl mailing lists Your participation is much appreciated.

bioperl-l@bioperl.org                         - General discussion
http://bio.perl.org/MailList.html             - About the mailing lists

Reporting Bugs

report bugs to the Bioperl bug tracking system to help us keep track the bugs and their resolution. Bug reports can be submitted via email or the web:

bioperl-bugs@bio.perl.org
http://bugzilla.bioperl.org/

AUTHOR

Christian M. Zmasek

Email: czmasek@gnf.org or cmzmasek@yahoo.com

WWW: http://www.genetics.wustl.edu/eddy/people/zmasek/

Address:

Genomics Institute of the Novartis Research Foundation
10675 John Jay Hopkins Drive
San Diego, CA 92121

CONTRIBUTORS

Hilmar Lapp, email: hlapp at gmx.net

APPENDIX

The rest of the documentation details each of the object methods. Internal methods are usually preceded with a _

new

Title   : new
Usage   : $rel = Bio::Ontology::Relationship->new(-identifier   => "16847",
                                                  -subject_term => $subject,
                                                  -object_term  => $object,
                                                  -predicate_term => $type );
Function: Creates a new Bio::Ontology::Relationship.
Returns : A new Bio::Ontology::Relationship object.
Args    : -identifier     => the identifier of this relationship [scalar]
          -subject_term   => the subject term [Bio::Ontology::TermI]
          -object_term    => the object term [Bio::Ontology::TermI]  
          -predicate_term => the predicate term [Bio::Ontology::TermI]

init

Title   : init()
Usage   : $rel->init();   
Function: Initializes this Relationship to all undef.
Returns : 
Args    :

identifier

Title   : identifier
Usage   : $rel->identifier( "100050" );
          or
          print $rel->identifier();
Function: Set/get for the identifier of this Relationship.
Returns : The identifier [scalar].
Args    : The identifier [scalar] (optional).

subject_term

Title   : subject_term
Usage   : $rel->subject_term( $subject );
          or
          $subject = $rel->subject_term();
Function: Set/get for the subject term of this Relationship.

          The common convention for ontologies is to express
          relationships between terms as triples (subject, predicate,
          object).

Returns : The subject term [Bio::Ontology::TermI].
Args    : The subject term [Bio::Ontology::TermI] (optional).

object_term

Title   : object_term
Usage   : $rel->object_term( $object );
          or
          $object = $rel->object_term();
Function: Set/get for the object term of this Relationship.

          The common convention for ontologies is to express
          relationships between terms as triples (subject, predicate,
          object).

Returns : The object term [Bio::Ontology::TermI].
Args    : The object term [Bio::Ontology::TermI] (optional).

predicate_term

Title   : predicate_term
Usage   : $rel->predicate_term( $type );
          or
          $type = $rel->predicate_term();
Function: Set/get for the predicate (relationship type) of this
          relationship.

          The common convention for ontologies is to express
          relationships between terms as triples (subject, predicate,
          object).

Returns : The predicate term [Bio::Ontology::TermI].
Args    : The predicate term [Bio::Ontology::TermI] (optional).

ontology

Title   : ontology
Usage   : $ont = $obj->ontology()
Function: Get/set the ontology that defined this relationship.
Example : 
Returns : an object implementing L<Bio::Ontology::OntologyI>
Args    : on set, undef or an object implementing 
          L<Bio::Ontology::OntologyI> (optional)

to_string

Title   : to_string()
Usage   : print $rel->to_string();
Function: to_string method for Relationship.
Returns : A string representation of this Relationship.
Args    :

Deprecated Methods

These methods are deprecated and defined here solely to preserve
backwards compatibility.