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Subject: RE: [xri] Problem with XRI 1.0 syntax


A further problem with the "'" character is that due to its special meaning in XML, using it would complicate embedding XRIs in XML documents (the double quote character has the same problem).  Amperstand is also a reserved character in XML used for character and entity references and probably shouldn't be used for the same reason.

My biggest problem with both "&" and "*", though,  is that when working at a whiteboard (which I am wont to do quite often), both are tedious to write.  My preference would be to use "!" as the delimeter in the authority-path and use "*" for annotations.  The "!" character has a long history of similar use in UUCP.  Given the precedence of using the "!" character in this way, it might be useful for the TC to to have access to the user survey that you mention, Fen, so that we can understand any negative connotations surrounding this character. 

I'm sure we can iron out which character ends up getting used without too much trouble.  My real concern is about trying to solve this problem too quickly.  Since the XRI spec relies on both 2396bis and IRI and we've already been bitten by a significant change (from our perspective) in 2396bis, shouldn't we wait until we are *very* sure that there won't likely be any other changes that affect us before calling this round of changes to XRI complete?  I know IRI has been submitted to IESG for review and that 2396bis is close to being submitted, but don't have a good sense of when we can feel comfortable that they are finalized.

Mike

-----Original Message-----
From: Fen Labalme [mailto:fen@idcommons.org]
Sent: Thursday, June 03, 2004 12:25 AM
To: Drummond Reed
Cc: xri@lists.oasis-open.org
Subject: Re: [xri] Problem with XRI 1.0 syntax


Drummond Reed wrote:
> Given that we already have defined roles for many of these reserved 
> characters, our available choices for the second level separator are:
> 
>       "&"   "'"   "*"   ","   ";"
> 
> The other possiblity is to reassign a currently used character, such as 
> the GCS character for annotations, "!".


"'" is too confusing
"," is too easily mistaken as a '.' (dot)
";" is too easily mistaken as a ":" (colon)
"!" is already used for annotations and (according to a user survey) has
bad (negative) connotations

That leaves "&" and "*".  Personally, I like splat ("*") as it's
eye-catching, which is what it should be given its importance.  Also, as
"&" is used in fragments, "*" may be less confusing, too.

My $0.02,
Fen

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