Range of URI+fragment dereference function

Dan Connolly wrote:
> 
> ...
> 
> But there is, I think, a fairly simple and appealing
> architectural view in which http://example#foo
> is in the same class as http://example, but
> ../foo is in a very different class from
> http://example#foo . Does this rendition of it appeal to you?

What is the range of the URI REF dereference function?

For example, the document says "In the case of a graphics format, a URI
reference might designate a circle or spline.". Does it designate a
"circle or spline" or circle _element_ or spline _element_. For
instance, given two different elements I know that they are really
different. I can infer distinctness just by virtue of the fact that XML
elements have unique identity. But two splines might be "the same" in
some SVG sense. Perhaps that is inferrable from the rules of SVG or
perhaps it needs to be explicitly asserted. Either way, identity for an
SVG abstraction is different than identity for an XML abstraction.
Similarly, I would expect an SVG circle to have a "radius" property
whereas an XML "circle element" could at best have an "attributes"
property with a "radius" attribute information item in there.

I think that it is dangerous to declare that the referent is the SVG
abstraction and not the XML abstraction because how then do I talk about
the XML element?

The grove view is that by default we address elements and explicitly ASK
to address beyond elements into other layers of abstractions. I think
the Web needs to formalize its view.

>...
> > and if I have a resource identified
> > by the URIRef http://example.com/someResource#otherResource, how do I
> > reference a fragment of that resource (assuming it has one)?
> 
> OK, assuming it has one, I can coin a new URI
> 
>   mid:2002-08-14.thismessage@w3.org#abc
>         (pretend that's the MID for this message)
> 
> to refer to it.

But we've lost the benefits of the HTTP URI scheme. If resources can
have resources as fragments then it only makes sense that the syntax
should have first-class support for it:

http://example.com/someResource#otherResource#anotherResource

Historically, fragments pointed at things that were NOT resources so
there was no issue of recursion.
-- 
"When I walk on the floor for the final execution, I'll wear a denim 
suit. I'll walk in there like Willie Nelson, John Wayne, Will Smith 
-- Men in Black -- James Brown. Maybe do a Michael Jackson moonwalk."
Congressman James Traficant.

Received on Thursday, 15 August 2002 14:12:37 UTC