Re: What does RDF consider a namespace to be?

From: Graham Klyne <GK@ninebynine.org>
Subject: Re: What does RDF consider a namespace to be?
Date: Tue, 18 Feb 2003 19:38:06 +0000

> Peter,
> 
> With reference to your message:
>    http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/www-rdf-comments/2003JanMar/0150.html
> 
> You cite the RDF Concepts document, but I'm not sure what kind of change 
> you are asking for here.
> 
> As I understand it, the question is concerned with whether a namespace is 
> invariant, or can names be added and removed?

Yes.

> This question seems to have no bearing on the definition or interpretation 
> of RDF.  Are there any specific problems raised by this issue, or examples 
> of RDF whose interpretation is ill-defined, or do you have specific 
> suggestions for changes to the text?

It has bearing on whether RDF is using the same notion as is used in other
W3C document.  

There is, of course, no internal inconsistency in the RDF documents if they
use a notion of finite, changable namespaces.

RDF is, probably, free to define its own version of namespace.  However, I
think that it would be better to have RDF use terms in the samy way as they
are used in other W3C recommendations.


I'm not proposing any particular change to the wording.  This is not a
comment about wording, but is instead a comment about the relationship
between RDF documents and other W3C documents.


> #g

Peter F. Patel-Schneider
Bell Labs Research
Lucent Technologies

> --
> 
> At 10:03 AM 1/30/03 -0500, Peter F. Patel-Schneider wrote:
> 
> 
> >What does RDF consider a namespace to be?
> >
> >It appears to me that the XML namespaces document makes XML namespace
> >simply be the set of URI references that share a common prefix.  Therefore
> >all XML namespaces contain an infinite and unchanging set of URI
> >references.
> >
> >However, Concepts says that ''Some terms in these namespaces have been
> >deprecated, some have been added, ...''  which appears to indicate that the
> >names in the namespace can be changed.  Does RDF actually use a different
> >meaning of a namespace than is used in XML?
> >
> >Other places in the RDF documents also seem to indicate that RDF considers
> >namespaces to have finite and changing sets of URI references.  For
> >example, Section 5.1 of RDF Syntax says
> >
> >         The [RDF] namespace contains the following names only:
> >         ...
> >         Any other names are not defined ....
> >
> >Concepts says
> >
> >         Vocabulary terms defined in the rdfs: namespace are defined in the
> >         RDF schema vocabulary specification ....
> 
> -------------------
> Graham Klyne
> <GK@NineByNine.org>

Received on Wednesday, 19 February 2003 13:37:24 UTC