- From: Anthony B. Coates <abcoates@TheOffice.net>
- Date: Mon, 2 Sep 2002 21:53:33 +0100
- To: www-tag <www-tag@w3.org>
** Reply to message from "Ian B. Jacobs" <ij@w3.org> on Fri, 30 Aug 2002 13:51:35 -0400 ---- Editor's note: Need to say something about difference between assertions about a resource and assertions about a representation. E.g., do not use the same URI to refer to the resource "Moby Dick" and to the particular representation of that resource, or do not use the same URI to refer to a person and to that person's mailbox. ---- Doesn't this fall into the namespace URI trap? If there is a URI that refers to "Moby Dick" abstractly, but not to a particular representation, then people will type the "Moby Dick" URI into browsers and get an error. Then people will say "what kind of document should be at the end of an abstract fictional character URI", and someone will come up with a resource format called CDDL (Character Directory Description Language, pronounced "cuddle") to put at the end of such URIs. Suddenly, you are using the same URI to refer to a resource and to a particular representation of that resource, and the problem recursively falls in upon itself. It sounds more like you need a MIME type or HTTP header to indicate that a URI dereferences a concept, rather than a representation. At least user agents would know what was happening then, and could take more sophisticated action. Cheers, Tony. ==== Anthony B. Coates, Information & Software Architect mailto:abcoates@TheOffice.net MDDL Editor (Market Data Definition Language) http://www.mddl.org/
Received on Monday, 2 September 2002 16:55:45 UTC