Tim Bass
11-29-2008 04:21 PM
Opher Etzion responds to the onging confusion with
On basic classification of terms.* First of all, there has been confusion in the CEP/EP community since the term “CEP” was coined, so the confusion is nothing new.* Second, one of the main sources of confusion is the Event Processing Technical Society (EPTS), chaired by Opher.** The
EPTS definition of “complex event” is as the heart of the confusion, as follows:
Complex event: An event that is an abstraction of other events called its members.
The above definition is way, way, way too broad (did I repeat “way, way, way” enough?).* In fact, the defination is so amazingly broad, it is just about meaningless.** Using the EPTS defination of “complex event”, simply aggregating two or more events creates a “complex event”.* Moreover, using the EPTS definition, simply counting events results in a “complex event” because counting events creates another abstraction, called the sum of the members.
The genesis for the confusion should be really obvious to everyone. Because the EPTS has chosen to define “complex event” so broad as to classify just about everything under the sun as a “complex event”, the root cause of the confusion is not in “elephants and blind men” as Opher likes to say, it is simply an overly broad definition.** Defining a “complex event” as just an abstraction of other events is impossibly broad.* It is the genesis of the confusion, without a doubt.
The same problem exists with the EPTS defination of the term “complex event processing”, below:
Complex-event processing (CEP): Computing that performs operations on complex events, including reading, creating, transforming or abstracting them.
Basically the folks in the EPTS, including the steering committee vendors, academics and analysts, have created all of the confusion, because they chose (for marketing purposes, I assume) to define “complex event” and “complex event processing” in such a broad and all encompassing way.* In a nutshell, the terms “complex event” and, in turn, “complex event processing” has almost no actionable meaning, because it means just about everything.
The fact of the matter is that the EPTS has confused the market because, under the EPTS definition, the most simple operation mathematically possible on two events defines a “complex event” and “complex event processing.”
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