- From: Dan Connolly <connolly@w3.org>
- Date: 24 Oct 2002 13:18:57 -0500
- To: Jonathan Borden <jonathan@openhealth.org>
- Cc: Chris Lilley <chris@w3.org>, www-tag@w3.org, www-tag-request@w3.org, "Champion, Mike" <Mike.Champion@SoftwareAG-USA.com>
On Wed, 2002-10-09 at 06:51, Jonathan Borden wrote: > > Chris Lilley wrote: > > JB> http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1772811392 > > JB> is this a web page or a car or an auction for a car? > > > > Its a web page (for one lot(a car) in an auction), clearly. > > > > Not so clearly! It could be any of the above depending on how the URI is > used. I think it is only so clearly a web page for folks who spend 100% of > their time thinking about web pages. > > Imagine the following email: > > [[ > Hey Bill, > > I am thinking about bidding on > http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1772811392 > > You know about cars, what is a fair price? > ]] > > Two people might effectively communicate without _directly_ speaking of web > pages. What I am saying is that URIs are _words_ and words are used to mean > what the people use them to mean. > > The really cool thing about HTTP words is that you click on them to find out > what they mean -- but still, they are interpreted in context just as other > words do. > > For example: > > [[ > Hey Bill, do you like the layout of > http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1772811392 > Should we change the fonts? > ]] > vs. > [[ > Hey Bill, is http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1772811392 > your very favorite car? > ]] > > Same representation, but each use of the word has a different meaning -- > depending on context. Yes, people are sloppy. But are you suggesting that this sort of ambiguity is acceptable in formal languages, such as technical specifications of XML formats? I hope not. -- Dan Connolly, W3C http://www.w3.org/People/Connolly/
Received on Thursday, 24 October 2002 14:18:59 UTC