Re: FYI -- draft ietf uri doc

On Mon, Sep 04, 2000 at 10:12:05AM +0100, Paskin, Norman (DOI-ELS) wrote:
> RFC 2396 says: "A resource can be anything that has identity". Gee thats
> helpful in designing tools!  :-).
> 
> I think my point still stands:  
> "the answer to the question "what is a resource".  As the W3C RDF activity
> has found (in my opinion), it is no longer sufficient to gloss over this by
> saying "whatever you want".  

Then RDF needs to define what is an allowed Resource. You don't artificially
constrain the entire formal system of allowable URIs simply because one
application can't cope with that entire system. 

In the same way that the XML Namespaces document _attempted_ to constrain
the types of URIs and/or Resources it allowed as namespace names, RDF
needs to constrain what it consideres a Resource in order to satisfy
its requirements. Now you could talk me into some language to that effect
in Leslie's document such that it says explicitly that some applications
MAY further constrain the concepts of URIs and/or Resources and that
the reader is strongly urged to consult the specifications for their
applications for any such constriants.

> It may indeed be necessary to allow it to be
> "whatever you want" but there must be  some constraints if we are to build
> useful tools to deal with resources: "whatever you want, but you say what it
> is as follows....so that we can design tools which will do the
> following...."

That's a problem with the tool and as such you need to put a warning 
on it saying "Don't use this with these things". I.e hammers aren't supposed
to be used with screws and screwdrivers aren't used to hammer nails.
You don't force everyone to use screws and screwdrivers and say that
hammers and nails are verbotten....


> -----Original Message-----
> From: Roy T. Fielding [mailto:fielding@kiwi.ICS.UCI.EDU]
> Sent: 04 September 2000 10:03
> To: Paskin, Norman (DOI-ELS)
> Cc: uri@w3.org
> Subject: Re: FYI -- draft ietf uri doc 
> 
> 
> >1.  I note that this is indeed an attempt to say what the current IETF
> >picture is.  As such, it clearly lacks a key component: the answer to the
> >question "what is a resource".  As the W3C RDF activity has found (in my
> 
> Resource is defined in RFC 2396.
> 
> ....Roy

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Received on Monday, 4 September 2000 10:06:46 UTC