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Subject: RE: [xri] Proposal for a separate GCS char for human-readable annotations
TC group, I would support this syntax change. =Loren > -----Original Message----- > From: Drummond Reed [mailto:drummond.reed@onename.com] > Sent: Monday, September 15, 2003 12:57 PM > To: xri@lists.oasis-open.org > Subject: [xri] Proposal for a separate GCS char for > human-readable annotations > > > XRI TC'ers: > > In the current 07 working draft, human-readable annotations can be > incorporate into an XRI using the "$!" namespace. However, in > writing a > large number of XRIs over the last month (as part of > investigating ideas > for the XDI schema), I have noticed a few things relative to > human-readable annotations in XRIs: > > 1) They are particularly helpful for describing persistent > XRI segments, > since persistent XRI segments typically contain non-semantic values > (i.e., numbers or hex values), > > 2) XRIs that contain nothing but a human-readable annotation are > surprisingly useful when used in conjuntion with multiple other XRIs > (i.e., both persistent and reassignable XRIs) that all > describe the same > resource, and > > 3) In both contexts it is easier for a human to spot these XRIs or XRI > segments if they are delimited by a standalone XRI authority prefix > symbol (i.e., just "!") rather than "$!" as we have now. > > For example, compare the following two XRIs: > > xri:@A4B6:($v/4).($!Foo-bar):21F2:($v/2).($!Baz)/:1234 > > xri:@A4B6:($v/4).(!Foo-bar):21F2:($v/2).(!Baz)/:1234 > > I find the latter much easier to scan for the human-readable comments. > > A second advantage of this proposal is that "$!" can be still be > reserved for a similar related purpose: providing the "non-normalized" > human-readable version of the previous identifier. For example... > > xri:=johndoejr.($!/(=John%20Doe,%20Jr.)) > > ...can tell a machine, "If you need to display the XRI value > "=johndoejr" to a human, used the string, "=John Doe Jr." > > A final advantage (although admittedly small) of using a different XRI > prefix symbol for human-readable comments is that XRI processors can > flat out ignore any segment starting with a "!", rather than having to > look for a "$" char, then having to look at the next "!" char before > deciding to ignore the segment. > > So the formal proposal is: > > 1) Modify the BNF on line 499 of the 07 draft to include the char "!", > 2) Define this as the GCS char for human-readable annotations. > 3) Specify that all XRI segments or cross-references that > start with the > "!" are to be completely ignored for purposes of resolution or > equivalence. > 4) Change the specified purpose of "$!" to be for asserting > the display > value of a normalized identifier. > > =Drummond > > > To unsubscribe from this mailing list (and be removed from > the roster of the OASIS TC), go to > http://www.oasis-open.org/apps/org/workgroup/xri/members/leave _workgroup.php.
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