- From: Graham Klyne <Graham.Klyne@Baltimore.com>
- Date: Thu, 24 May 2001 13:38:02 +0100
- To: Aaron Swartz <aswartz@upclink.com>
- Cc: RDF core WG <w3c-rdfcore-wg@w3.org>
I'm inclined to agree with Aaron on this. Also noting DanC's comment about balancing the needs of the future against the needs of the past (can't find the exact quote, but I noted the gist). #g -- At 03:07 PM 5/23/01 -0700, you wrote: >Dave Beckett <dave.beckett@bristol.ac.uk> wrote: > > >>> What I've seen so far is an answer that says the spec doesn't allow it. > >>> I feel that doesn't fully answer the issue raised. > >> > >> I know that Dave seems to feel differently about this, but I see a simple > >> solution to this and empty property elements: > >> > >> - Define an empty property element to be an empty literal > >> - Define an id and a resource to be the reification of the statement > > > > We *can* do these things - i.e. changing the RDF/XML syntax but we > > need good reasons. Neatness is one but I feel it isn't strong enough > > to counterpoint breaking existing parsers; make no mistake - this > > would be a change in the meaning. > >Sorry for not being clear, but I see a very good reason for this. > >It seems that consensus suggests that: > ><rdf:Description> > <propName /> ></rdf:Description > >should result in an empty literal for the value of propName. In such a case, >something like: > ><rdf:Description> > <propName rdf:ID="foo" /> ></rdf:Description> > >could only be understood as assigning foo to the reification of the >statement. Similarly, > ><rdf:Description> > <propName rdf:ID="foo" rdf:resource="bar"/> ></rdf:Description> > >would also assign foo the the reification of the statement. > >Certainly this does change the meaning, but it changes it to be more >consistent and brings it in line with what (IMO) the majority of RDF authors >expect. I doubt that many (if any) RDF authors understand the current >wackiness and even fewer have built documents on it. I think in this case we >can expend the effort needed to fix this rather large mistake in the syntax. > >-- >[ Aaron Swartz | me@aaronsw.com | http://www.aaronsw.com ] ------------------------------------------------------------ Graham Klyne Baltimore Technologies Strategic Research Content Security Group <Graham.Klyne@Baltimore.com> <http://www.mimesweeper.com> <http://www.baltimore.com> ------------------------------------------------------------
Received on Thursday, 24 May 2001 10:46:06 UTC