Weka's ARFF format allows string attrbutes.
@ATTRIBUTE userName string
Will "mahout arff.vector" correctly handle conversion from such strings to
vectors in such a way that the attribute will, effectively, be treated the same
as a nominal attribute? That is, will the set of strings be converted into a
set of nominal attributes (one for each possible string value)?
@ATTRIBUTE userName {bob, fred, harry, jill, betsy, george, bill}
In general, will I lose any information by using arff.vector?
For date attributes, will mahout insert derived attributes (hour of day, day of
week)? I presume not and I presume I have to add them myself.
Thanks, Don
