Re: What does a URL identify: pragmatic approach

FWIW, this is similar to what I have found workable.  A variation of your 
directory/file name that I use is with respect to uris of the form 
http://id.ninebynine.org/..., thus:

   http://id.ninebynine.org/people/gk/ I may use to identify me, but
   http://www.ninebynine.org/Ident/people/gk/ identifies the web page that 
describes me.

As it happens, a http: GET to either of these URIs returns exactly the same 
web page.  This is done without (explicit) URI mapping.

Whether this is a 'good model' to follow, I guess time may tell.

#g
--

At 07:44 PM 1/28/03 +0000, Brian McBride wrote:

>On the tag list there has been a long thread on naming and what URI 
>references identify.  I don't want to fan the flames on that thread or 
>burden the tag members with deleting more unwanted mail, but I did want to 
>record an approach I'm trying out.  I hope this doesn't generate too much 
>traffic here.
>
>If you point your browser at:
>
>   http://www.w3.org/2001/sw/RDFCore/20030123-issues/
>
>you should see the RDFCore's last call issues document.
>
>When you do a GET on that URI, the server returns a representation of:
>
>   http://www.w3.org/2001/sw/RDFCore/20030123-issues/Overview.html
>
>because that is the default document for a directory.
>
>So my conceptual model is this:
>
>http://www.w3.org/2001/sw/RDFCore/20030123-issues/ identifies rdfcore's 
>last call issues list.
>
>http://www.w3.org/2001/sw/RDFCore/20030123-issues/#pfps-01 identifies a 
>particular issue in that list
>
>http://www.w3.org/2001/sw/RDFCore/20030123-issues/Overview.html identifies 
>an xhtml document, a representation of which is returned when I do a GET 
>on the issues list.  This is a document which provides useful information 
>about that list which the server is configured to return when a GET on the 
>abstract concept is received.
>
>http://www.w3.org/2001/sw/RDFCore/20030123-issues/Overview.html#pfps-01 
>identifies an element in that xhtml document as defined by the appropriate 
>mime-type.
>
>http://www.w3.org/2001/sw/RDFCore/20030123-issues identifies the directory 
>which contains Overview.html.
>
>So pragmatically speaking, I seem to have different names for the 
>different things I want to name, and it just seems to hang together.
>I can make rdf statements about the issues list, individual issues, the 
>document and elements of the document and its clear which is which.
>
>Pragmatically speaking, is this a good model to follow?
>
>And architecturaly, I'm left wondering whether there is a useful 
>generalization built around the fact that many web servers allow GET's on 
>one URL to be mapped to a different URL.  What I have done here is to use 
>such a mapping to have the web server map from a concept (a last call 
>issue) to a document giving information about that concept.
>
>Brian

-------------------
Graham Klyne
<GK@NineByNine.org>

Received on Wednesday, 29 January 2003 10:15:21 UTC