Re: [XRI] Back to XRI

John Bradley wrote:
> Hi Roy,
> 
> XRI resolution is about retrieving meta data for resources.   It is not 
> about retrieving resourced http: is about that. 
> 

Thanks. That actually makes this discussion clear to me for the first 
time; and now that I understand it I know where I stand.

IMHO, the difference between metadata and data is mostly in 
interpretation and solely in the information retrieved. That is, the 
format of information returned should be independent of the protocol 
used to retrieve it. We do not have and should not have separate schemes 
for separate times of information. Separate protocols for metadata and 
data is like separate protocols for JPEGS and text, or XML and protobufs.

Data formats should be network transport independent. Network protocols 
should be data format independent.

I'm not sure if that's an explicit principle of the Web architecture. It 
may have seemed so obvious that no one thought to state it, or realized 
they were relying on it. However it most certainly is a strong 
characteristic of layered network protocol design.

-- 
Elliotte Rusty Harold  elharo@metalab.unc.edu
Refactoring HTML Just Published!
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=0321503635/ref=nosim/cafeaulaitA