"meaningless terms" verbage for Primer

Here is my proposed verbage regarding terms with undefined
semantics, for inclusion into the Primer. Frank, feel free
to wordsmith freely.

Note that the list was based on there being no defined semantics
for the term in the MT, even if there might be range, domain,
type, or other assertions made about the terms. The list (or the MT)
may need adjusting if it is incorrect...

rdf:li was not mentioned in the MT, but that may be an omission
since it's in the syntax doc. It is included in the list
below.

--
The RDF/S vocabulary includes several terms the meaning of which
was undefined or ambiguous in earlier specifications of RDF and
which remain undefined in the present RDF MT. 

Specifically: 

   rdf:value
   rdf:Bag
   rdf:Seq
   rdf:Alt
   rdf:li
   rdf:_n
   rdf:List
   rdf:first
   rdf:rest
   rdf:nil
   rdfs:comment
   rdfs:seeAlso
   rdfs:isDefinedBy
   rdfs:label 

These terms remain in the RDF/S vocabulary for various historical 
reasons. Their lack of an explicit or clear interpretation has 
resulted in their being used in incompatable ways by different
applications. Nevertheless, as they provide utility to certain
RDF applications, and in the interest of backwards compatability,
they have not been deprecated or removed. 

Note that some of these terms do have certain constraints defined
in the MT for their use, such as their domain, range or type, but
their actual meaning is not specified.

Users should take care when employing these terms, as there is no 
guaruntee that any RDF applications will interpret them as intended. 
It should also be noted that no valid inferences may be drawn from 
statements using these terms, insofar as the model theory is concerned.
Any interpretation or inference based on these terms is entirely
application specific.

This document contains examples which reflect how some of
these terms have been previously used; however such usage is
merely suggestive and in no way constitutes a normative definition
of their meaning or purpose.
--

Patrick

[Patrick Stickler, Nokia/Finland, (+358 40) 801 9690, patrick.stickler@nokia.com]

Received on Monday, 9 December 2002 07:20:34 UTC