A couple question, Equivalent for rdf:resource

I'm trying to figure out a way to simplify the syntax for RDF/XML so I
can transform it easily with a style sheet.  It seems that there are a
lot of different ways to represent the same graph in RDF/XML - some of
them more verbose than others.  For instance, is...

<rdf:Description rdf:about="http://www.foo.com#car">
<jfc:property rdf:resource="http://www.foo.com#bar" />
</rdf:Description>

...the same as...

<rdf:Description rdf:about="http://www.foo.com#car">
<jfc:property>
<rdf:Description rdf:about="http://www.foo.com#bar" />
</jfc:property>
</rdf:Description>

I'm thinking that the second form would be easier to process with an
XSLT style sheet (despite being more verbose) because there is a
"symetry" between the two nodes #car and #bar contained as properties of
rdf:Description.

Also, I was wondering why rdf:about, rdf:nodeID, rdf:ID and other XML
properties of the rdf:Description element aren't themselves defined as
RDF properties.  They can be represented as XML properties using the
abbrivated syntax in either case.  However, if they were defined as RDF
properties as well, then they can be extended as in:

<rdf:Property rdf:about="http://www.foo.com#href">
<rdfs:subPropertyOf
  rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#about" />
<rdfs:domain
  rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#Resource" />
<rdfs:range
  rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#Literal" />
<rdfs:comment>
  Subject is identified by the web site at the object,
  and it is not machine-readable.
</rdfs:comment>
</rdf:Property>

Finally, is rdf:Description an instance of rdfs:Resource?  Then why
isn't it defined in a schema, as in:

<rdfs:Resource
  rdf:about="http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#Description">
<rdfs:comment>
  A node, the subject of a statement.
</rdfs:comment>
</rdfs:Resource>

L8r.
--
James F. Cerra

Received on Sunday, 6 April 2003 00:28:37 UTC