RE: Summary of the QName to URI Mapping Problem

> > >You could, but I don't think that is a valid position considering
> > >the global scope intended for the SW.
> >
> > Well, I see your point, but I think that the SW is going to have to
> > face up to the fact that information from several sources is liable
> > to produce inconsistencies, and find ways of living with that. One
> > thing that we surely cannot do is somehow guarantee that people will
> > always agree with one another about everything. And once this
> > possibility is allowed, and people are given reasonably expressive
> > ways of saying things, they can contradict themselves. Tough, but
> > true.
>
>It's one thing to admit that we can't ensure total consistency but
>it's quite something else to accept standards and tools which
>*themselves* can create inconsistencies and ambiguity when it is
>*known* that they can do so and that they could be fixed so that
>they don't mung the data, but we don't bother.

Maybe that is the point. I don't yet see what the fix is here, and 
you seem to be arguing that there is no fix(?) After all, there is 
indeed no way to uniquely deconcatenate an arbitrary string, and you 
tell us that there is no way to ensure that everyone will adopt any 
particular end-string-marking convention (such as the use of #), so 
what is to be done?

If you have already answered this question, I apologise for being 
obtuse, but could you (briefly) say what the solution is again (or 
point again to the message containing it) ?

Pat Hayes

---------------------------------------------------------------------
(650)859 6569 w
(650)494 3973 h (until September)
phayes@ai.uwf.edu 
http://www.coginst.uwf.edu/~phayes

Received on Friday, 17 August 2001 17:41:08 UTC