Re: variables prefix - ?variable vs. $variable

On Tue, Aug 31, 2004 at 02:25:30PM -0700, Rob Shearer wrote:

> > a variable like "?this"? Do their expectations really matter 
> > so little?
> 
> As a general note, yes. Their expectations matter very little. 

Fine, but *you* get to tell them that!

> RDQL is
> used in a tiny community and is clearly in the realm of the "proprietary
> one-off language".

Really? Proprietary in what sense? There's a public document
describing it, multiple open source implementations, no patent
encumbrances. It's neither proprietary nor one off *in any
sense*. That's just misleading and false.

> This is in contrast to languages like SQL and XQuery, which many large
> companies have committed millions of dollars to training thousands of
> consultants on (yes--"millions" and "thousands" really apply to XQuery).

Bah. First, neither of them are RDF query languages. Second, so what?
What does that have to do with how we spell variables?

> The semantic technology insiders already using RDQL, although I'm sure
> they can be ornery, have next to no inertia compared with these huge
> industry powerhouses interested in employees with commodity skills.

No inertia? I don't know what that means.

Kendall Clark

Received on Tuesday, 31 August 2004 21:43:53 UTC