RDF vocabulary definitions

Hello all,

Here's a beginners' question, please tolerate...

I would like to know what is the difference between rdfs:Class and
rdf:Description when defining a class in my own RDF vocabulary. Are the
following two class definitions equivalent?

<rdfs:Class rdf:ID="MyClass">
<rdfs:subClassOf
rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#Class"/>
</rdfs:Class>

<rdf:Description rdf:ID="MyClass">
<rdf:type rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#Class"/>
</rdf:Description>

The RDF Primer has a chapter on defining RDF vocabularies with RDF
schema and all the examples use the latter way. I cannot find a
discussion about the difference/equivalence of these two ways in the
primer. The following quotes are the closest thing I could find, but the
explanations are rather implicit.   


"Classes are defined using the RDFS-defined resources rdfs:Class and
rdfs:Resource, and the properties rdf:type and rdfs:subClassOf."


"In RDF Schema, a class is any resource having an rdf:type property
whose value is the RDFS-defined resource rdfs:Class. So a new class,
such as xyz:MotorVehicle, is defined by creating an RDF resource to
represent the new class, and giving it an rdf:type property whose value
is the RDFS-defined resource rdfs:Class. (The resource rdfs:Class itself
has an rdf:type of rdfs:Class.)"

I would appreciate any kind help!

Best wishes,

Manne Miettinen

Received on Tuesday, 19 November 2002 10:12:04 UTC