I have a dream

Namespaces were originally designed to work as globally unique names.
They do that pretty well.  URI-reference syntax has all the right
technical properties.

Dan and TimBL (at least, probably more) think that this use of
URIref syntax violates the spirit of the URI framework.  I think I
understand that framework pretty well (and have learned more about
it in the last weeks), and I think I understand their
arguments, but I still don't agree.  I do agree with Dan on the
best way forward right now (some variant of deprecate/undefined).

And I *don't* think that we should have used java class names or
URNs or some other sideways dodge.  Because, I have a dream.  I
dream of writing software that when it runs into a namespace name 
that it doesn't recognize, can use the name as a URI, dereference 
it, and (maybe, no guarantees in the Web architecture) get 
something back that will help something useful happen.  Sometimes
names are all you're gonna get, and sometimes there's nothing 
much more useful that can be said.  But the current practice
leaves the door open to doing more.

I think the W3C should make a serious priority of getting to work
on figuring out how to make this a reality.

I think that the future goal of useful dereferencing of 
namespace names should *not* get in the way of the current goal
of using them as globally-unique names.  For that reason, 
relative URI references in this role should be at least 
deprecated.  

Weirdly enough, sometime in the last 1000 messages I swung over
from the "deprecate" to the "forbid" camp, becaus the moral 
problems involved in blessing their use in this application
exceed those of forbidding them.  But I recognize that this
position is probably extremist and can't command consensus.

 -Tim

PS: [Note to TimBL 
  for (i = 0; i < 1000; i++)
  {
    my $j; 
    foreach $j (0 .. 1000)
    {
       for (int k = 0; k < 1000; k++)
         System.out.println("I am not against relative URIs!");
    }
  }
  printf(".... except in namespace names\n".);
]

Received on Sunday, 25 June 2000 01:52:36 UTC