What is a namespace ... really?

[david at megginson.com]

james anderson writes:
 > david at megginson.com wrote:

 > > Let's call it splits, and say that the resource that the URI
 > > identifies is the (intangible) namespace itself.
 > 
 > nb. while it's not static, it's also not intangible. any given
 > ns-conformant processor must have a quite concrete model of what a
 > given namespace is at every point in time. (neglecting the "null"
 > namespace, for the moment.) since the uri "names" a namespace only
 > once an attribute-binding has appeared, its only meaning is exactly
 > that which the processor models.

I was being perhaps overly literal -- I meant "intangible" in the
etymological sense that transfer protocols cannot touch it.  Programs
have to know *about* namespaces (and may build or retrieve models of
it), but they cannot retrieve a namespace itself.


All the best,


David

-- 
David Megginson                 david at megginson.com
           http://www.megginson.com/

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