Re: HTTP 1.1 document terminology.

On Mon, 29 Apr 1996 jg@w3.org wrote:

> 
> entity tag
> ----------
> 
> An identifier for an entity.  An identifier for a particular entity is
> called a "strong entity tag."  An identifier for an equivalent set of
> entities is called a "weak entity tag."
> 


Would you consider following substitute.  It is much more detailed,
but this was a contentious issue.  While the name and precise wording
is not so important I think it is a good idea to have this level of
specificity:



  entity tag
  ----------
 
  A string associated with an entity and used to distinguish it from
  other entities which have the same URI.  The class of entities being
  distinguished may include entities which only existed in the past or
  which will exist in the future, but they all have, have had, or will
  have, the same URI.  A "strong entity tag" is an entity tag which can
  only be shared by two entities if they are equivalent by octet
  equality.  A"weak entity tag" is an entity tag which can be shared
  by two entities if they are semantically equivalent.  An entity tag is
  not intended to distinguish entities with different URI's as they are
  distinguished by their respective URI's.
 




John Franks 	Dept of Math. Northwestern University
		john@math.nwu.edu

Received on Monday, 29 April 1996 10:41:38 UTC