Re: RDF-ISSUE-24 (Deprecate Containers): Should we deprecate RDF containers (Alt, Bag, Seq)? [Cleanup tasks]

On 2011-04-08, at 09:28, Dan Brickley wrote:

> On 8 April 2011 00:04, RDF Working Group Issue Tracker
> <sysbot+tracker@w3.org> wrote:
>> 
>> RDF-ISSUE-24 (Deprecate Containers): Should we deprecate RDF containers (Alt, Bag, Seq)? [Cleanup tasks]
>> 
>> http://www.w3.org/2011/rdf-wg/track/issues/24
>> 
>> Raised by: Sandro Hawke
>> On product: Cleanup tasks
>> 
>> The RDF 1999 and 2004 Recommendations include vocabulary and syntax
>> (in RDF/XML) for RDF "containers", Alt, Bag, and Seq.
>> 
>> Although these features are being used, such as in rss 0.91, some experts
>> advise data providers to avoid them.
> 
> That's RSS 1.0 - http://web.resource.org/rss/1.0/
> 
> Can we avoid what Wikipedia call 'weasel words'?
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Manual_of_Style_(words_to_watch)#Unsupported_attributions
> "... some people say, it is believed, many are of the opinion, most
> feel, experts declare, it is often reported, it is widely thought,
> research has shown, science says, it was proven ..."
> 
> It's worth citing the critique(s) explicitly. "Some experts" in this
> community can be found to say more or less anything!
> 
> Containers are certainly a nuisance to process (as are lists) in RDF.
> Not because of the inherent awfulness of the design, but because
> representing ordering in a fact-based system is inherently difficult,
> especially when we restrict to binary relations.
> 
> To my mind, rdf:Alt is worthless and barely coherent. rdf:Bag is almost as bad.
> 
> rdf:Seq does have some merit, and some serious 'in the wild' usage.

Agreed. While far from perfect, in some situations it's preferable to RDF Lists.

- Steve

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Received on Friday, 8 April 2011 09:05:37 UTC