Re: namespaces include their name => 1-1

Larry Masinter wrote:

> Namespaces aren't just any old resource. One of the properties of
> namespaces is that the definition of a namespace includes its namespace
> name. This means that there are many URIs that are *inappropriate*
> for use as namespace names, because they don't actually match the
> namespace name given in the namespace definition.

Only on the assumption (for which there seems to be absolutely no
warrant) that just because the namespace name has the syntax of a
URI reference, the URI of the namespace is necessarily that same
URI reference or an absolutized (RFC-2396-resolved) version of it.

My proposal using the "data:" scheme provides a *different*
URI for the namespace, derived from its name but *not* identical to it.

> For example, the definition for the namespace of XSLT at
> http://www.w3.org/TR/xslt#xslt-namespace says:
> 
> "The XSLT namespace has the URI http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform."

Yes, it does say that.  But then it is only an assumption that that
is the name as well.  I would reword this as:

	The XSLT namespace is named "http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform".
 
> I think people are getting twisted into knots because they're thinking
> that *any* URI can be used as a namespace name.

Unfortunately the Namespace Rec allows not only any URI, but any
URI *reference*, an even larger set of strings.

> But this isn't a good idea at all.

"Good idea" is out of the case.  It is either permitted (and must be
supported) or forbidden (which is not practical politics).

> Using "http://WWW.W3.ORG/1999/XSL/Transform" as a namespace name is
> just an error. Don't do it.

It may be a bad practice, but not an error -- as such, I need to know
what to do about it.  As Infoset editor, I can't neglect what is otherwise
legal XML 1.0 + Namespaces, no matter how perverse.

-- 

Schlingt dreifach einen Kreis um dies! || John Cowan <jcowan@reutershealth.com>
Schliesst euer Aug vor heiliger Schau,  || http://www.reutershealth.com
Denn er genoss vom Honig-Tau,           || http://www.ccil.org/~cowan
Und trank die Milch vom Paradies.            -- Coleridge (tr. Politzer)

Received on Friday, 2 June 2000 12:30:00 UTC