A Standard Naming Method of Data Elements Using a Semantic Dictionary

Abstract

This paper describes the problems in naming data elements and offers solutions to these problems. When using the popular Durell’s Naming Standard, it is difficult to compile a semantic dictionary necessary for that standard manually because there is no clear criterion for word segmenting and for deciding word types. As a result, the reliability of the dictionary suffers and the results of checking by Durell’s Naming Standard with this dictionary are not good enough. We have developed a tool for the automatic construction of the semantic dictionary that utilizes a natural language processing system named INDEXER. This tool eliminates the errors in the dictionary. Using it, non-specialists can compile a reliable, consistent dictionary automatically. We also augment Durell’s Naming Standard which allows us to naturally name our own data elements.