Hi all,
At first, H5MD was built with only time-dependent data for the particles
information. It was then changed to be generic with respect to time
dependence.
The naming "group" or "data group" has however remained, which may cause
confusion.
I propose a semantic change: a time-dependent or time-independent data
would be
called a "H5MD element" or "element" if no confusion can arise. I
checked in the
specification and the only possible remaining confusion is that element
is the
usual name for the values within an array (and by extension in a HDF5
dataset).
Further clarification is obtained by renaming HDF5 objects (groups,
datasets,
etc.) "objects".
Summing up:
1. Any object in a HDF5 is called an object in the spec (when the use is
generic, indeed, like for the members of a group).
2. Time-dependent or time-independent data are called "H5MD elements" or
"elements". This applies, for instance, to /particles/<my particle group
name>/position or to an observable.
3. When referring to the values within an array or dataset, the word
"value" is
used. e.g. "The values of the dataset are in monotonically increasing
order."
This change does not modify the specification but allows further
clarification.
Comments?
Cheers,
Pierre