[Bug 7670] Use of prefixes is too complicated for a Web technology

http://www.w3.org/Bugs/Public/show_bug.cgi?id=7670





--- Comment #38 from Maciej Stachowiak <mjs@apple.com>  2009-09-23 23:28:37 ---
(In reply to comment #37)
> (In reply to comment #35)
> > (In reply to comment #34)
> > 
> > I do think prefix indirection is somewhat confusing. It seems to be a common
> > error for both producers and consumers of prefix-using data to make the mistake
> > that it's the prefix that is meaningful, rather than the URI it is bound to.
> 
> Talking about a prefix as not being meaningful doesn't help. Descriptions of
> prefixes that say "Oh they don't mean anything" are wrong and misleading. A
> prefix has a very clear meaning in the context of the document or section in
> which it is defined. Prefixes may change meaning between documents or sections
> (not a great idea as mentioned) but they have a great deal of meaning.

To clarify, the error I'm referring to is assuming the exact spelling of the
prefix is what's meaningful. For example: it's an error to assume that the
exact prefix "foaf:" always indicates the FOAF namespace, and no other prefix
does, rather than looking at the prefix mapping.


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Received on Wednesday, 23 September 2009 23:28:52 UTC