Re: ANNOUNCEMENT: RDFStyles: alternative to XSLT for RDF

> > If RDF had a cannonical syntax in XML then you could use XMLPath with
> > RDF and although you would not be querying the RDF model, it would
> > nevertheless work ok.
> > 
> > Libby
> 
> I also fully agree with that. But we don't (yet?) have a cannonical 
> RDF/XML syntax. So it is not ok right now. And although it is ok from a 
> pragmatic point of view, it is not from a more conceptual one (in my 
> opinion). We can probably live with that, but we should be careful as it 
> might not be in our best interest on the long run.
> 
> Emmanuel

I'm not sure that such a canonical syntax would be useful in general (though it 
might have use in some cases, such as creating a way of signing RDF by allowing 
RDF -> Canonical RDF/XML -> Canonical XML -> Digest).

XPath can be used with RDF/XML that is produced by an application in a 
consistent manner, in particular XML that is designed to be parsed by RDF/XML 
parsers but which do not necessarily only operate in this manner. An example 
being RSS1.0.

Personally I think that this is going to see more use, as a custom application 
might be able to deal with its "own" XML document type more efficiently than a 
general RDF tool, and there might be a desire to allow both to happen (one 
for "local" use one for greater interoperability).

Jon Hanna