Re: FYI -- draft ietf uri doc

Folks said:
> >RFC 2396 says: "A resource can be anything that has identity". Gee thats
> >helpful in designing tools!  :-).
>
>Maybe you are looking for something other than a resource.  That is the
>only thing a tool needs to know in order to manipulate the Web interface:
>the fact that it knows very little, and therefore must rely on the
>naming authority for everything else.

RFC 2396 also goes on to say:

          The resource is the conceptual mapping to an entity or set of
          entities, not necessarily the entity which corresponds to that
          mapping at any particular instance in time.  [...]

Which I find to be helpful.  I think an accompanying definition of "entity" 
would have been helpful.

I submit that the purpose of these documents is not only to state what the 
tools need to know, but also what human users/designers need to know.  I 
think there have been many discussions that would have been easier with a 
clear, common understanding of the properties of resources and their 
relationship to URIs.

#g

------------
Graham Klyne
(GK@ACM.ORG)

Received on Wednesday, 6 September 2000 06:19:34 UTC