Re: A(nother) Guide to Publishing Linked Data Without Redirects

Hi James,

On Nov 11, 2010, at 08:36, James Leigh wrote:

> On Wed, 2010-11-10 at 17:26 -0500, David Wood wrote:
>>> 
>>> Hi all,
>>> 
>>> I've collected my thoughts on The Great 303 Debate of 2010 (as it
>>> will be remembered) at:
>>> http://prototypo.blogspot.com/2010/11/another-guide-to-publishing-linked-data.html
>>> 
>>> Briefly, I propose a new HTTP status code (210 Description Found) to
>>> disambiguate between generic information resources and the special
>>> class of information resources that provide metadata descriptions
>>> about URIs addressed.
>>> 
>>> My proposal is basically the same as posted earlier to this list,
>>> but significantly updated to include a mechanism to allow for the
>>> publication of Linked Data using a new HTTP status code on Web
>>> hosting services.  Several poorly thought out corner cases were also
>>> dealt with.
> 
> 
> Hi David,
> 
> Thank you for your post, it got me thinking more about this issue. After
> thinking this through a bit more, I have come to the conclusion that all
> 200 series response should indicate the requested URI is a document. It
> could also be something else, but at least the URI is a document. Let me
> quickly explain why.
> 
> Any URL in my document browser's address bar must be a document.
> 
> This is the way the Web has always worked. Whether it is 200, 203, or
> 210 the URI represents a document. URIs that response with a 303 (or any
> 300 series) are not documents. If I type in a URI and it gets redirected
> (via 303) the URI does not represent a document.
> 
> This is a really simple rule that every Web architect can easily
> understand. Your proposal of using 210 for non-document resources breaks
> this simple rule and may create more confusion than the existing 303
> recommendation for non-document resources.


That is an interesting perspective, but not quite right in my opinion.  Not all 200 series responses indicate a document.  Only 200 itself is guaranteed to be an information resource (via the http-range-14 TAG finding - even that is not a standard).

201 (Created) does not necessitate a body response (although it SHOULD).  202 doesn't necessitate a body at all, nor does 204 (No Content) nor 205 (Reset Content).  In fact, 204 and 205 go farther and have rules for how a user agent should adjust its document view upon receiving such a response.

Regards,
Dave



> 
> Thanks,
> James
> -- 
> James Leigh Services Inc.
> http://www.leighnet.ca/
> http://jamesrdf.blogspot.com/
>

Received on Thursday, 11 November 2010 15:07:14 UTC