This is the feedback I gave to Twitter as part of the hackfest. Sharing it
here, hoping that we could discuss the idea further.
Lack of strictly defined data-types is going to be like a dynamic
programming language. Every client will have to do it's own type checking.
For example, an annotation currently specifies the location using latitude &
longitude as :
"location" : {
"latitude" : 45.4,
"longitude" : 15.2
}
Now each client would have to check if the numbers are valid floating point
numbers.
What if you suggest a data-type to be appended after the attribute name? for
example:
"location" : {
"latitude_float" : 45,
"longitude_float" : 15
}
Then, when the annotated tweet is being created, Twitter itself can check if
the value conforms to the data type. So all clients can reliably use these
types.
Suggestions for data-types:
int : Integer
float : Floating point number
url : A well formed URL
--
Harshad RJ
http://hrj.wikidot.com
