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docs: consistent table-tier definitions (Manual = direct insert, not 'by hand')#230

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dimitri-yatsenko merged 1 commit into
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docs/tier-definition-consistency
Jul 20, 2026
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docs: consistent table-tier definitions (Manual = direct insert, not 'by hand')#230
dimitri-yatsenko merged 1 commit into
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docs/tier-definition-consistency

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What

Makes the table-tier definitions consistent across the docs. The explanation and reference-spec layers already define the tiers correctly (explanation/relational-workflow-model.md, reference/specs/autopopulate.md); the tutorials and two quick-reference tables had drifted into describing Manual tables as "user-entered" / "entered by hand," which wrongly excludes automated ingestion.

Why

The defining property of a Manual table is that its rows are inserted directly, from outside the DataJoint pipeline — whether typed in by a person (form/GUI) or loaded by an automated ingestion tool/instrument. The contrast that matters is direct insertion vs. production by make() (Imported/Computed), not human vs. machine authorship. Several tutorial tier-tables stated the human-entry framing as the definition, and a few narrowed Imported to "files" rather than any external source.

Changes

  • Manual → "data inserted directly from outside the pipeline (people/forms or ingestion scripts/instruments)".
  • Imported → "populated by make() from an external source (files, instruments, databases)" (no longer "files" only).
  • Computed → "populated by make() from other tables".

Files: how-to/define-tables.md, reference/specs/table-declaration.md, and the tier tables/legends in the sql-comparison, calcium-imaging, blob-detection, and basics/02-schema-design tutorial notebooks. Notebook edits are text-only (no re-execution; outputs untouched).

Scope note: intentionally left the borderline intro-tutorial phrasings (01-first-pipeline "you enter data directly," comparison-to-provenance-systems.md "manual data-entry point") as-is; they keep the correct "directly" framing and rewording adds churn without changing meaning.

… not 'by hand')

Aligns tutorial and quick-reference tier tables with the authoritative
explanation-layer wording (relational-workflow-model.md, autopopulate.md):

- Manual: data inserted *directly* from outside the pipeline — by people
  (forms/GUIs) OR by automated ingestion scripts/instruments — not
  'user-entered'/'entered by hand'. The defining property is direct insertion
  vs. production by make().
- Imported: populated by make() from an external *source* (files, instruments,
  databases), not only 'files'.
- Computed: populated by make() from other tables.

Touches quick-ref tables in define-tables.md and table-declaration.md and the
tier descriptions in the sql-comparison, calcium-imaging, blob-detection, and
02-schema-design tutorial notebooks.

@MilagrosMarin MilagrosMarin left a comment

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LGTM

@dimitri-yatsenko
dimitri-yatsenko merged commit 613eb72 into main Jul 20, 2026
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