xml-dev - Re: Real XML Site

[Eric van der Vlist <vdv@dyomedea.com>]

Hi Paul,

My purpose wasn't to say if the practice is good or bad, but to
acknowledge it's common ;=) ...

Paul Tchistopolskii wrote:
> 
> From: Eric van der Vlist
> 
> > It can be seen as weird, but not more that serving HTML documents with
> > .php or .asp extensions since in this case it's also the result and not
> > the source that is sent to the browser.
> 
> I think this practice exists only because there is no simple and clear
> URL-rewriting layers in most of the HTTP servers I've seen.

I am not so sure. I rather think it depends on the semantic you are
attaching to a HTTP URL.

If you see it as a kind of FTP request and attach a meaning like "get me
that file" then, yes, you'd expect that the extension will be coherent
with what you get back.

If you see HTTP as a service request (ala CGI) then there are other and
better means to specify the mime type(s) you are expecting back than
relying on an extension.

If you see a HTTP request as "execute this service and get me some
results back", then this actual syntax of the HTTP request becomes
dependent of the naming strategy used by the site and IMHO the HTTP
headers that have been defined for this usage should be used to
determine the mime type that will be returned rather than the extension.

> I think situation is somehow similiar to HTML. What you ( and many
> others, including myself ) are saying : "URI is confuizing? Big deal -
> it works" , is in fact close to saying : "HTML is not well-formed?
> Big deal - it works".

They are confusing as long you overload them with extra semantics ;) !

They are kind of multilayered names and we shouldn't add semantics to
names (you'd be wrong by concluding from my name that I am born near the
Dutch river named "Vlist": I have never seen it and I am not even
Dutch).

For a HTTP URL what is important is that the scheme (http://) is
correct, that the host address is understandable and what's following is
(except for the syntax rules regarding the GET form requests) an
identifier for the HTTP server and its syntax should be left to the
responsibility of the site designer...
 
> Rgds.Paul.
> 
> PS. Oh, gosh. It comes to the basics again. "What is URI" ?
> "Why namespaces are using URIs - is it really reasonable?"

:)

Eric

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Eric van der Vlist       Dyomedea                    http://dyomedea.com
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