Re: A Priori Information (Was Snapshot of Web Services Glossary )

On Wed, Feb 26, 2003 at 09:58:47PM -0800, David Orchard wrote:
> My big problem so far, and I haven't been able to wade through all the
> emails to figure it out, is that I can't figure out what knowledge is
> allowed to be in scope for non a priori.  For example, GETting a web page
> requires a knowledge of HTTP, TCP/IP, URIs.  So is it knowledge of the
> format of the representation?  Ah, but if I'm a browser, I certainly have to
> "know" what HTML, JPEG, GIF, etc. are in order to render them properly.
> 
> My guess is that any discussion around a priori has to focus on what
> knowledge classifies as a priori, and what doesn't.

I'd say that it's *all* knowledge, of any kind.

So with respect to your browser example, yes, prior knowledge of all
those things is required (except for perhaps JPEG and GIF which
could be considered optional in light of the alt tag).

MB
-- 
Mark Baker.   Ottawa, Ontario, CANADA.        http://www.markbaker.ca
Web architecture consulting, technical reports, evaluation & analysis

Received on Thursday, 27 February 2003 10:37:21 UTC