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rom names to codes: How do identifiers change the way we understand objects
In today's rapidly developing society, identifiers have become a ubiquitous element in our daily lives. An identifier is a name used to identify a unique object or class of objects, whether they are concrete quantities or abstract ideas. We all rely on these identifiers for communication and identification in various databases, programming languages, and daily communications.
The ubiquity of identifiers is not limited to the field of technology, but permeates every corner of our lives.
An identifier can be any combination of nouns, numbers, letters, or symbols, depending on the object or category it represents. When an identifier follows a certain encoding system, it is often called a code or ID code. For example, the ISO/IEC 11179 metadata registration standard defines codes as a set of valid symbols that can replace longer values.
These identifiers are divided into two types, unique identifiers (UID) and arbitrary identifiers. UID can uniquely point to a specific object, while arbitrary identifiers do not have this property, may be randomly assigned, and do not carry any deep meaning. For example, "Model T" is used to refer to a Ford Model T, but "Model T Serial Number 159,862" clearly identifies a specific vehicle.
The two are semantically equivalent in terms of the concepts of naming and identifiers, but not in terms of deeper associations.
In addition, identifiers play an important role in computer science as syntactic tokens for naming entities. In programming languages, identifiers are used to name variables, types, subroutines, etc., allowing the computer to identify and operate these entities.
There is some degree of ambiguity between identifiers and unique identifiers in various identification systems and terminology. For example, a person may have many different names and titles, such as "Jane Smith", "Dr. Smith", etc., and these identifiers can represent different identities of the same person. In such cases, the diversity of identifiers complicates our understanding of identity.
As technology continues to advance, the way people interact and communicate has changed, and the old identifier system has begun to show its limitations in the new environment. In the process of crossing cultural and geographical boundaries, the meaning of identifiers may be reinterpreted, leading to confusion or misunderstanding when people use these identifiers.
Naming conflicts are a common problem, especially in the field of computer science.
The uniqueness of these identifiers is challenged when many codes and naming systems appear in different namespaces. For example, the extended story of the CODEN system shows this problem. As these systems expand and become more widely used, they also need to face many challenges such as implicit context, name conflicts, and scalability.
In the absence of independent context, it is often difficult for us to use identifiers effectively, which affects the efficiency of information interpretation and communication. When using various identifiers, we must consider whether they accurately represent the meaning we want to express, or whether they can maintain their original meaning in a wide range of contexts.
Ultimately, in every moment where daily life and technology intersect, we use different identifiers to interpret the world and build an understanding of objects. And this is not only a technical need, but also a human ability to give a name. In the days to come, the use of identifiers will inspire us to think more deeply: How do we understand everything around us through names?
