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OK thanks for the explanation, since the pun was way out of my frenchy mind.
Now that you pointed this to me, I'll be less of a tenderfoot in this
american world :).
Cheers,
Nicolas
>-----Message d'origine-----
>De : Jonathan Borden [mailto:jborden@mediaone.net]
>Envoyé : vendredi 18 janvier 2002 16:40
>À : xml-dev@lists.xml.org
>Objet : [xml-dev] The RDDL name, was :Re: [xml-dev] RDDL
>
>
>Nicholas,
>
>" OK. Following RFC 2396, namespaces are resources because
>they have an URI.
>But resources aren't namespace. Hence, RDDL should be named NDL."
>
>A few points: First, every namespace is a URI, and conversely
>_every URI can
>be a namespace name_, hence there is no absolute distinction
>between the
>two, aside from how they are intended to be used. But I've
>already said that
>I believe the definition of a "Resource" is hopeless, so
>there's not much
>point in pursuing this line of reasoning futher.
>
>The real reason RDDL is named RDDL is a little joke. The
>acronym "RDDL" is
>pronounced like the English word "riddle". My little joke is
>that everyone
>was wondering: what is at the end of a namespace URI? No one
>had an answer.
>"perhaps nothing", "perhaps something". This confused many people who
>thought that every URI was associated with a _document_. Of
>course we know
>that this is not the case by definition, but nonetheless,
>there is a common
>_expectation_ that typing a URI into a browser will result in something
>appearing on the screen.
>
>A good rule for the Web, and systems in general, is the
>concept of least
>surprise, and XML Namespace URIs which use the "http" scheme and aren't
>associated with a document violate that rule. Hence the
>"riddle": what is
>there?
>
>RDDL. It is a play on words. The name happens to be reasonably good:
>"Resource Directory Description Language". It describes
>_directories_ or
>collections of resources. RDDL was not the first name proposed
>but all the
>back and forth is in the XML-DEV archives. So in the interest of a good
>acronym we use "resource" vs. "namespace". You must realize
>that we have
>priorities :-) and try not to take names too seriously because this all
>should be just a little fun.
>
>Jonathan
>
>
>
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