- From: Paul W. Abrahams <abrahams@valinet.com>
- Date: Tue, 06 Jun 2000 14:59:36 -0400
- To: xml-uri@w3.org
I would propose that we eliminate a lot of the confusion surrounding namespaces by replacing the definition of a namespace name by the following: "The attribute's value is the namespace name identifying the namespace. It must have the form of a URI reference, although for the purposes of this specification the namespace name is treated as an uninterpreted character string. Other specifications and applications may choose to attach their own interpretations to the namespace name and to place additional requirements on its form or interpretation. (URI references are used in this context because they allow such additional interpretations.) Namespace names should be chosen so as to be unique. That is, the author of a namespace should choose a namespace name that one can assume with some confidence will not be used by anyone else to denote a different namespace." I suggested this in a message to David Carlisle but I think it's worth looking at independently. As far as I know it's completely consistent with the existing specification, but provides a different way of looking at what is there. There's a separate substantive issue of whether URNs might be better for this purpose; the namespace spec even hints at this possibility. Paul Abrahams
Received on Tuesday, 6 June 2000 14:59:44 UTC