xml-dev - RE: Namespace URI address resources

[Andrew Layman <andrewl@microsoft.com>]

Recent mail has suggested that a namespace URI could be used to attempt a
retrieval of a schema, either using the URI directly or in some modified
form or via content negotiation.  Other recent mail has objected, saying
that there may be a miriad of things one wants to associate in some way with
a namespace, for example a suggested (or mandatory?) style sheet to process
all elements and attributes defined in that namespace.

I suggest that there is a vast difference between something such as a
schema, which creates identifiers and gives them a definition, and other
resources such as style sheets that may be permanently or ephemerally
associated with those identifiers.  One defines the data; the other
indicates processing.  

If we follow the principle of cleanly separating data from its processing,
we want firm ties to the definition of data, and loose ties to its
processing.

This argues that the first position is correct, namely that using a
namespace URI to retrieve a schema is reasonable and is different in kind
from retrieval of other possibly-related resources.

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