RE: Introduction to URIs (was RE: WebArch introduction, sort of)

	"There is real debate underway at the moment as to whether it is
correct 
	for a web server to return a 200 OK response code in a response to a

	request for a URI which identifies a non-information resource."

Suggest "No, by definition":
Define "information resource" as a resource in which it is reasonable
to expect to be able to retrieve a representation. 

Then:

* If it were correct to send 200 OK, then the resource would be an
  "information resource" and thus not a "non-information resource".
* Thus, by elimination, it is not correct to return 200 OK for
  non-information resources.

> "Therefore, the use of a URI to directly denote both an information 
>	resource and a non-information resource should be viewed as a
violation 
>	of good practice, but *not* a violation of Web architecture."

Use of a URI to directly denote anything is always a leap of faith.

Larry 
-- 
http://larry.masinter.net (I am not a number. I am also not my web page.)