Re: erratum Re: resources and URIs

Do any of the linguists who read this thread know whether the
word "defererence" has a life outside computer science?  In a
programming language, if I dereference pointer p, I am yielded
a value from the memory location it points to, which is different
from me traveling in person to that memory location.

Are there other interpretations of this word, with precedence?

Is the range of the dereference function for program variables
(a) the memory location, (b) the concept associated with that location,
(c)the value at that location, or (d) something other?

(yes, i know it's HTTPrange-14, and I apologize already)

Thank you,
Walden

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Michael Day" <mikeday@yeslogic.com>
To: "pat hayes" <phayes@ihmc.us>
Cc: <www-tag@w3.org>
Sent: Thursday, July 17, 2003 2:07 AM
Subject: Re: erratum Re: resources and URIs


> 
> 
> <blockquote cite="mid:p06001219bb3b24417c36@[10.0.100.23]">
>  Well, OK yes you *could* say that. But it doesn't deal with the basic 
>  point, and it stretches the notion of 'information network' to what 
>  seems to me to be an absurd degree, so that almost all the 
>  architectural claims no longer hold.  For example, putting a URI up 
>  on a website does not "create a link to" a galaxy 100 million 
>  light-years away.
> </blockquote>
> 
> When this message hits the W3C archives on the web, does the blockquote
> create a link to the message you just sent?
> 
> What if it linked to a book by isbn number?
> What if the only copy of the book was 100 million light years away?
> What if the book was pulped, and no copies remained?
> 
> If I write "10 Downing St, London" on a piece of paper, I've created a
> link that traverses the planet. And yet, dereferencing the link requires
> airline tickets and jet lag.
> 
> Michael
> 
> (I love this thread, in all its futile glory :)
> 
> -- 
> YesLogic Prince prints XML!
> http://yeslogic.com
> 
>

Received on Thursday, 17 July 2003 09:22:33 UTC