RE: Human-Opaque URIs

Phil,

> > I'm now considering using opaque numbers in URIs to 
> represent things - 
> > e.g. http://sw.example.com/2003/01/application/23 - and am 
> wondering 
> > if other people do this and what their experiences are. In 
> particular, 
> > what would be the advantages/disadvantages of working in a 
> world where 
> > URIs contain little human-readable information?

I wonder if there is something to learn from the relational database
world.  Your question reminds me of the selection criteria for table
primary keys:

Not Null: Will the candidate value ever be null? 

Brevity: Is the candidate value more than a single column?

Simplicity: Does the candidate value contain embedded spaces, special
characters, or differential capitalization?

Data Type: Is the candidate value something other than a number or
fixed-length character data type?

Nonidentifying Value: Does the candidate value contain any intelligence
or have any meaning?

Never Change: Is the candidate value likely to change?  

(taken from http://www.winnetmag.com/Articles/Print.cfm?ArticleID=5113,
more explanation of each point there.)

Kind regards

James Carlyle
http://semanticplanet.com