Re: closing semantic issues

>I maintain that the issues raised in #rdf-formal-sematics are not adequately
>addressed in the model theory, and that this issue should not be closed.
>
>In particular, the current model theory does not address reification at
>all, so there is no sense that it can be used to close an issue whose
>summary asks:
>	What is the relationships between a statement and its reification.

True, and I wish it did address reification. For reasons that are 
still opaque to me, the treatment of reification that I originally 
offered was rejected by the WG, but until someone can tell me *what* 
was wrong with it, I am somewhat at a loss as to how to proceed.

>The current model theory does address collections, but its treatment of
>collections leaves much to be desired.

I beg to differ on a point of order. The MT treatment of rdf:Bag is I 
believe in very close conformity to the treatment described 
(informally but thoroughly) in the M&S. As you say:

>  In particular, rdf:Bag is not a bag
>at all, but instead is much more like a sequence.

Right, and that is exactly how the M&S so describes it, by insisting 
that :_1, :_2 and so on apply to *all* containers. It would be easy 
to change the MT to describe a different notion than rdf:Bag, but 
then it would not in fact describe RDF.

>  If rdf is going to have
>something called rdf:Bag, then its *RDF* semantics should conform to the
>intended meaning of bags!

Its model theory should conform to its intended meaning, but if that 
intended meaning is not in conformity with a broader notion of 'bag', 
then don't blame the model theory.  What you are complaining about 
here is an issue in how RDF should treat containers, but its not a 
model theory issue.

Pat

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Received on Monday, 5 November 2001 13:13:44 UTC