xml-dev - Re: regarding RDF

[Roy Tennant <rtennant@library.berkeley.edu>]

Oh, boy, am I glad to see this. I thought I was the only idiot who
couldn't understand RDF. Now I see there are at least two of us. 

When presented with two possible solutions, my tendency is to favor the
best one technically. For example, Beta instead of VHS or Syquest EZ 135
over the Iomega Zip. You all know where that got me. But with RDF I find
myself repelled from the best technical solution (the current model and
syntax)  because it is about as understandable as the U.S. Tax Code. 

I predict that RDF will either:

1) die a dark and lonely death because no one can understand it well
enough to use it; or,
2) be metamorphosed through use into something that looks nothing like the
current spec.

If you don't believe me on number 2, just go take a look at the "RDF" at
the Netscape and Wired sites, then explain to me how it conforms to the
spec. Thanks for listening,
Roy Tennant


On Thu, 11 Jun 1998, Adam M. Donahue wrote:

> Tim,
> 
> I just read your piece at XML.com on the RDF, 
> and, using your, example, I want to make sure I 
> have each part the RDF clear:
> 
> <RDF:Description 
> href='http://www.textuality.com/RDF/WhyRDF.html'>
> <Author>Tim Bray</Author> 
> <Home-Page RDF:href='http://www.textuality.com' 
> />
> </RDF:Description>
> 
> All right, let's see:
> 
> The resource being described here is the 
> resource at location 
> http://www.textuality.com/RDF/WhyRDF.html
> 
> The PropertyType resources here are Author and 
> Home-Page.  The Property is Description.  It 
> consists of the resource, the property types 
> Author and Home-Page, and each one's 
> corresponding value.  
> 
> Now, given that, we could perhaps add an id 
> attribute to the RDF element, say, 
> "description", and then further describe this 
> entire property with something like:
> 
> <RDF:Indexer href="#description">
> <Person>Adam Donahue</Person>
> </RDF:Indexer>
> 
> Now the resource is the Description property, 
> and the property type of *this* resource is 
> Person, indicating here, for example, the person 
> who indexed the original description.
> 
> Further, I could add an id attribute to the 
> Person element, say, persontype, and then 
> describe to a particular the Person PropertyType 
> in the Indexer resource, like:
> 
> <RDF:Person href="#persontype">
> <Desc>...</Desc>
> </RDF:Person>
> 
> Now, if this is true, I'm a bit confused.  What 
> if I have several <RDF:Indexer> elements in my 
> document.  How do I describe, *in general*, a 
> Person PropertyType?  It would appear that if I 
> point to a particular instance (as in this 
> example), it would only apply to this instance?  
> Does this make sense?  That is, I have a unique 
> ID as an attribute to the Person PropertyType in 
> the above.  I am pointing to it in <RDF:Person 
> href="..">, but this element only points to the 
> ID of *that* particular Person PropertyType 
> (namely, the one containing "Adam").  What if I 
> have one with Bob?  And what if I just want to 
> describe the PropertyType itself, in general?
> I'm missing something here.  Please clarify...
> 
> Thanks,
> Adam
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> mailto:adam@cyber-guru.com
> 
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