Re: [whatwg/url] [Editorial] Replace the term 'cannot-be-a-base' with hierarchical/non-hierarchical (#634)

> Clearly, "cannot be a base" is not adequately describing these URLs.

It seems to be very clear in describing what makes them different - they are URLs that cannot be a base. It seems you're looking for a definition that, rather than being based on capability, is based on some other property of the URL. That is, in your definition, you're attempting to define them to be URLs that follow the generic syntax ("`scheme://`"), which then means they have a `hier-part`. That's trying to find a definition based on the syntax, rather than the capability, and then tries to express the capability in terms of the syntax. That approach hasn't really worked out well historically, which is why there's an understandable difficulty trying to see this as clearer.

> The dictionary.com definition is poor, sure. However, there "hierarchical" is not an opaque or undefined term - the components of the path are defined as representing a hierarchy, with ".." components moving up and other components moving down that hierarchical structure.

That's not a correct understanding of hierarchal URLs though. Indeed, the normalization of the base URL is an entirely optional part of RFC 3986, and that normalization is where the ".." removal happens (Specifically, https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc3986#section-5.2.4 is an optional step). As 3986 tries to make clear, the path is actually opaque (notwithstanding that optional syntax).

> It just so happens that 3986 describes this as a hierarchical section. It's a happy coincidence.

That's not really coincidence though. rust-url is using the term from 3986. That you've indirected through that implementation is fine, but it's a term with meaning that comes from RFC 3986. The `hierarchy` being described with respect to hierarchal or non-hierarchal is about the `host` and `port` ("`authority`") and `path` components; that is, a scheme-independent method of expressing a common naming pattern based on hosts and paths.

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