- From: Patrick Stickler <patrick.stickler@nokia.com>
- Date: Wed, 03 Jul 2002 21:15:15 +0300
- To: ext Jonathan Borden <jonathan@openhealth.org>, WWW TAG <www-tag@w3.org>
On 2002-07-03 20:49, "ext Jonathan Borden" <jonathan@openhealth.org> wrote: > > Patrick Stickler wrote: > >> >> Documentation about some resource is not an HTTP representation of >> that resource. > > I define (HTTP) documentation of some resource precisely as such a > representation. Perhaps this is the crux of the dispute, over how the term > "representation" is being used? I am not saying that any representation of > some thing _is_ that thing, rather, a text description, or a picture, or > some other electronic representation. Are we arguing over the meaning of > "representation" ? > > Perhaps the meaning of this term needs clarification? From RFC 2068: resource A network data object or service that can be identified by a URI, as defined in section 3.2. Resources may be available in multiple representations (e.g. multiple languages, data formats, size, resolutions) or vary in other ways entity The information transferred as the payload of a request or response. An entity consists of metainformation in the form of entity-header fields and content in the form of an entity-body, as described in section 7. representation An entity included with a response that is subject to content negotiation, as described in section 12. There may exist multiple representations associated with a particular response status. content negotiation The mechanism for selecting the appropriate representation when servicing a request, as described in section 12. The representation of entities in any response can be negotiated (including error responses). variant A resource may have one, or more than one, representation(s) associated with it at any given instant. Each of these representations is termed a `variant.' Use of the term `variant' does not necessarily imply that the resource is subject to content negotiation. I think it's pretty clear that a textual description *about* some resource is neither a representation nor variant of that resource. Patrick -- Patrick Stickler Phone: +358 50 483 9453 Senior Research Scientist Fax: +358 7180 35409 Nokia Research Center Email: patrick.stickler@nokia.com
Received on Wednesday, 3 July 2002 14:15:13 UTC