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RE: URIs and Names on the Web

• To: <xml-dev@l...>
• Subject: RE: URIs and Names on the Web
• From: "Didier PH Martin" <martind@n...>
• Date: Sun, 28 Jul 2002 13:05:16 -0400
• Importance: Normal
• In-reply-to: <025901c27ea0$28648a60$0201a8c0@n...>

Hi,

I personally think that using URLs for everything is a kind of reasoning
that could receive the same kind of counter-argument as using HTTP to
tunnel SOAP requests. It's using something indented for a certain usage
for an other one. This could be perceived as:
A) an innovative behavior. A lot of creative people are labeled fools in
some institutions simply because they used words with different meanings
than the rest of the population. So it seems that creativity is accepted
as long as it fits within the tolerated variance.
B) a break of social convention:  The RFCs and the HTTP protocol
definition clearly states that it represents a location and that HTTP is
a protocol based on a few verbs allowing exchange of information and
some hints about rendering (but does not say how to do it)
C) for a hammer everything looks like a nail: I was so attached to the C
programming language and I invested so much in mastering it that I used
it for every programming task. Later on I discovered that some languages
are better than others for some tasks. Now my toolbox doesn't contain
only a hammer but a diversified set of tools. 

Now my political opinion since this debate has nothing to do with
technology but more pure politics. 

First and foremost this is the expression of my personal opinion on the
subject.

For some moment I'll be an ET coming to earth without prior knowledge.
Somebody explains to me the URL concept as tell me that the expression
stands for: Universal Resource Locator. That somebody gives me the RFCs
to read, etc... As a good and logical ET, my first reaction will be to
think that we are talking about something indicating a location (at
least this is something I deduced from the expression itself and also
from my reading of the specs). Then if the earth inhabitant now tells me
that a URL is used to name things and that everything could be named
with a URL then when I'll come back home I'll tell my fellow ETs that I
met a URL on planet earth and that this planet is inhabited with several
billion URLs that they travel in URLs, etc... In the back of the room
one ET will be probably laughing thinking that these URLs are bizarre.
And as a good ET I myself will think

"why these life forms didn't used URNs (Universal Resource Names) to
name things". Maybe they are not evolved enough to make the distinction
between names and locations. We'll come back to this planet when they
will be more evolved :-)"

Its sunny, its Sunday and I got some fun imagining this ET laughing at
us, poor degenerated human beings not able to make a distinction between
a location and a name.

Cheers
Didier PH Martin

• Follow-Ups:
  • Re: URIs and Names on the Web
    • From: "Thomas B. Passin" <tpassin@c...>
  • RE: URIs and Names on the Web
    • From: "Jimmy Cerra" <jc2astro@h...>

• References:
  • URIs and Names on the Web
    • From: "Jonathan Borden" <jborden@a...>

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