- From: Jan Grant <Jan.Grant@bristol.ac.uk>
- Date: Mon, 15 Oct 2001 10:22:26 +0100 (BST)
- To: Brian McBride <bwm@hplb.hpl.hp.com>
- cc: Pat Hayes <phayes@ai.uwf.edu>, w3c-rdfcore-wg <w3c-rdfcore-wg@w3.org>
On Tue, 9 Oct 2001, Brian McBride wrote: > > > Pat Hayes wrote: > > [...] > > > > Ah, that is a nice idea. It has some odd consequences, though. Graphs > > with number labels cannot be stored inside computers, send over > > packet-switched networks, printed, etc... They have to be Platonic > > graphs, not data structures. And why stop at numbers? ;-) > > > This sets my antenae twitching. > > One of the problems with the earlier M&S document's formal model was that (at > least in my interpretation of it) the use of platonic statements, platonic > resources etc led to all sorts of horrible confusion. > > This is one of the reasons I felt the need for a model theory and why I > preferred to have it based on n-triples - because that was clearly a concete > syntax. I've bought the idea that the graph is also a concrete syntax, so using > that is fine. > > I personally would be real nervous if we were losing the clarity of that > distinction between a concrete syntax and what it means. We'll be back to > graphs containing resources and questions about what exactly is a resource, > which so far, we have brilliantly managed not to need to answer. Forgive me answering this a week late (telecom italia problems last week), but this isn't as dire as you might think. The "platonic"/conceptual graphs are as distant from computer realisations as, say, the relational model is from your RDBMS of choice. You've _never_ inserted the number 12 into a relational table - except conceptually*. But such a mental leap is trivial to make. jan * Instead, you've done something gritty with wave equations, I don't doubt. -- jan grant, ILRT, University of Bristol. http://www.ilrt.bris.ac.uk/ Tel +44(0)117 9287088 Fax +44 (0)117 9287112 RFC822 jan.grant@bris.ac.uk Usenet: The separation of content AND presentation - simultaneously.
Received on Monday, 15 October 2001 05:24:01 UTC