What is this IDs/pattern rot?

[Uche Ogbuji <uche.ogbuji@fourthought.com>]

> I don't, of course, expect people who think in terms of identifiers to
> recognize the harm they've caused.

I must say that I find this whole "thinking in terms of identifiers rather 
than patterns" conceit completely absurd.  I can jaw abstract philosophy with 
the most idle of them, so notmally this would only bother me so much.

But Simon tries to ground his ideas in discussion of a few particular 
technologies:  RDF, RNG, WXS, XPath...

I cannot find any sensible idea that has anything to do with patterns and 
identifiers that can explain the ones that I do like (well, all except WXS) 
and the one that I don't.  In my mind ist's a simple matter of simplicity 
versus complexity relative to the task at hand.  All satisfy me in this regard 
except for WXS.

And if I try to consider whether I think in terms of identifiers or patterns, I cannot make any sense of the idea.  I think in terms of both, of course, as does every normal person.  After all, patterns are the substrate of identifiers, and identifiers are how we organize the patterns we conceive.  See there?  I told you I could jaw abstract philosophy with the most idle of them  :-)

But this IDs/patterns idea to me seems to go like the reasoning of one of the characters in Rudyard Kipling's Just So Stories.


-- 
Uche Ogbuji                                    Fourthought, Inc.
http://uche.ogbuji.net    http://4Suite.org    http://fourthought.com
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Python and XML development using 4Suite, Part 3: 4RDF - http://www-105.ibm.com/developerworks/education.nsf/xml-onlinecourse-bytitle/8A1EA5A2CF4621C386256BBB006F4CEC