Re: Blank Nodes Re: Toward easier RDF: a proposal

On 12/2/2018 4:31 PM, Henry Story wrote:
> One could make a similar argument in Java, JavaScript or Scala. In
> such languages the identity of objects can only be determined by
> fields of the objects, that is arrows going *from* the object to a
> literal or another object, as there is no way to determine what 
> objects are pointing to an object O from within O: there is no global
>  object index.  So someone coming from that background would find it
> odd that arrows pointing to a blank node could make a difference as
> to the equality of that object.

I don't think that this is quite right.  The usual objects in OO
languages know their parent *type* or (prototype).  They don't know
about any linkages to other objects unless properties are assigned that
hold that information.  And it's common to provide for such linkages.
Just think of doubly linked lists, or the XML DOM.  True, there is 
usually no built-in object index, but a programmer can provide for one 
if it's wanted.

Anyway, garbage collectors need to find all the objects so they can do 
their job, so in garbage-collected languages the information must be 
available in some manner.

Received on Sunday, 2 December 2018 22:54:42 UTC