Re: [xml-dev] RDF Interpretation of XML documents (was Re: [xml-dev] patterns vs.

Mike Champion scripsit:

> >If you change the id attribute to rdf:id, then this is also RDF.
> >Unless it contains mixed content, almost any reasonable XML document
> >has an RDF interpretation.
> 
> An honest  question, not a troll: what can an RDF processor usefully
> do with such a document?

Well, let's take Eric's example:

>    <book id="book_0805033106">
>         <isbn>0805033106</isbn>
>         <title>Peanuts Every Sunday </title>
>         <author href="author_Charles-M.-Schulz"/>
>         <character href="character_Sally-Brown"/>
>         <character href="character_Snoopy"/>
>         <character href="character_Linus"/>
>         <character href="character_Lucy"/>
>     </book>

Assuming that id is changed to rdf:id, and that a relevant namespace
declaration appears somewhere for the null prefix (RDF doesn't like
elements without namespaces), then an RDF processor can discover that:

There is a type named "book";
There is an object of type "book" whose ID is "book_0805033106";
The book has the "isbn" property with value "0805033106";
The book has the "title" property with value "Peanuts Every Sunday";
The book has the "author" property with value anonymous-1;
Anonymous-1 has the "href" property with value "author_Charles-M.-Schulz"
The book has the "character" property with value anonymous-2;
Anonymous-2 has the "character" property with value "character_Sally-Brown";
Etc.

By changing the "href" attributes to "rdf:resource" attributes, we remove
part of the indirection, and get:

The book has the "author" property with value the resource identified by
   the URI "author_Charles-M.-Schulz";
The book has the "character" property with value the resource identified by
   the URI "character_Sally_Brown";
Etc.

-- 
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Denn er genoss vom Honig-Tau,           || http://www.ccil.org/~cowan
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