Language = Namespace. was: How namespace names might be used

>> >Pardon a possibly naive question, but what do you mean by a language in
this
>> >context?  Do languages have a 1:1 relationship to anything else such as
>> >applications?


Language: 2a)
"Words and the methods of combining them for the expression of
thought." -OED.

(I'd use a quote from a logic textbook but I am at work and it is at home)

I would be happy to add my weight to the "deprocate relative option" so long
as we can establish the underlying basis we need for XML applications.


- a languge is (here) the set of names, their constraining syntax, and a
defined meaning for any combination of names which satisfies those
constraints on syntax.

- a namespace corresponds to a language.  I know that some don't want this
model but honestly without it all work on XML should stop immediately and be
restarted with a proper footing. What is XHTML? a Language! That is actually
what the letter stands for. There is meaning in it.  The meaning is NOT
carried by out of band discussion, it is carried in the XHTML specification.

- a namesapce is identified by a URI.  (That is, if any resource is
identified by URI u, and a namespace is identified by URI u, then that
resource *is* that namespace)

The DSig folks had a schema which used the Schema namespace.   It was valid
for a while and then became invalid. The namespace changed.  The language
changed. Unfortunately the namespace URI was not changed.   Now, they want
to move on to Candidtae Rec stage.  It is really important that this
specificatoin can refer to the language (xml-schema as of today) in which it
is written.

So while I can understand the definitions people give of namespaces being
sets of names which have no relation to particular languages, that does not
give the W3C or the world what it actually needs to use XML in practice.

In my opinion we do not have time to hold everything up while we develop
alternative notions of meaning and of syntactic constraint, with many-one
mappings and so on,
when we have to move ahead and much of what has already been done actually
assumes that the namespace really does include meaning as well as just a set
of words.

PLEASE can we go ahead on that basis?

If so I will be happy to put my weight behind deprocating relative URIs to
get out of this mess we are in now.

Tim Berners-Lee

Received on Monday, 19 June 2000 15:58:26 UTC