Re: Merge @type and @datatype

On 09/28/2011 08:25 AM, Markus Lanthaler wrote:
> Sorry for spamming the mailing list today, but as it was quite silent here
> recently I would like to use the opportunity to discuss a number of things I
> came up with while I reviewed the spec. So there may be more mails coming
> :-)

Not at all, thank you for keeping the discussion going!

> This one is about merging @type and @datatype.
> I understand that in a RDF world the distinction is necessary, but in
> JSON-LD we do not need to distinguish the two keywords as they can't be
> misinterpreted.

Interesting... I don't see any reason why we couldn't make this change. 
It does simplify the spec a bit... @type and @datatype do different 
things as far as the triples they generate are concerned... I don't know 
if this would confuse authors. What @type does is dependent on its 
context. I don't know if we really have any other attribute like it that 
is context-dependent (except for @context, of course). One could 
consider @language one of those features (if we support it in @context).

> So I would like to propose to merge @datatype and @type to @type (ISSUE-31).
> I think this won't cause any problems in the already implemented algorithms
> and just require a change from @datatype to @type. The reason behind this is
> that both, @type and @datatype, specify the "data type" of a construct, the
> only difference is that the one addresses subjects while the other addresses
> objects.

That logic makes sense to me. +1

-- manu

-- 
Manu Sporny (skype: msporny, twitter: manusporny)
Founder/CEO - Digital Bazaar, Inc.
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Received on Saturday, 1 October 2011 19:44:49 UTC