[Nml-wg] NML namespace

Mon Jul 30 09:36:20 EDT 2012

Hey Freek,

My preference is #2. I'm  not sure we need to publish anything at those URLs since the namespace URIs are simply meant to be unique identifiers, not real URLs. If we wanted to do something at those URLs, we could have schemas.ogf.org/nml or schemas.ogf.org/nml/2012/10 and simply redirect to a higher level document with links to the RDF/XML schemas.

As to the difference between XML and RDF namespaces, it might be possible to define how the namespaces in RDF *should* be used in NML to make it possible to do RDF -> XML translations (since XML -> RDF translation looks to be straight-forward). If folks follow that usage pattern, it'd be possible to translate between them, and if not, then it's their problem to figure out how to do translations. I could however be missing something obvious due, in part, to a young daughter who decided it would be fun to be awake for much of the night.

Cheers,
Aaron

On Jul 26, 2012, at 10:23 AM, Freek Dijkstra wrote:

> All,
> 
> It turns out that namespaces in XML and RDF are used for a different
> purpose, and in practice may look subtly different (e.g. the NML RDF
> namespace contains a hash, while the NML XML variant does not).
> 
> A few high-level questions:
> 1. How do we want to translate URIs between RDF and XML?
>   By a lookup table or by some general procedure?
> 2. Do we want to use (roughly) the same URI for the XML and RDF schema?
> 3. If you answered "yes" to question #2, what should be publish at
>   this URI?
> 
> Ad 1: The advantage of a lookup table is that it works for all syntaxes
> (URIs ending in hash, slash or anything else), but implementations need
> to learn about the URI before they can support future extensions.
> The advantage of a procedure is that is works for future NML extensions,
> but requires that all NML extensions must adhere to a particular syntax.
> 
> Ad 2: Are we going to use "http://schemas.ogf.org/nml/2012/10/base" and
> "http://schemas.ogf.org/nml/2012/10/base#" or do we prefer to publish
> the schema at the defined location. In that case, we need distinct URI.
> E.g. "http://schemas.ogf.org/nml/2012/10/base/xml" and
> "http://schemas.ogf.org/nml/2012/10/base/rdf#".
> 
> Ad 3. A usual trick employed by OASIS is to put up a HTML page which
> points to both the standard, and the schema(s). E.g.
> "http://docs.oasis-open.org/tamie/xtemp/200909". There is also a (little
> used?) standard to add computer readable pointers to the schemata in the
> HMTL document. See http://www.rddl.org/
> 
> 
> 
> For those interested why XML and RDF distinction, here is some
> background. XML uses namespaces to scope things: e.g. "The 'Node'
> element in context of the 'http://schemas.ogf.org/nml/2012/10/base'
> namespace". RDF uses namespace to create shortcuts for long URIs: e.g.
> "http://schemas.ogf.org/nml/2012/10/base#Node can be abbreviated to
> nml:Node if 'nml:' is a shortcut for
> 'http://schemas.ogf.org/nml/2012/10/base#'.
> 
> Here is an example to highlight the difference. In RDF, these two
> statements are equivalent:
> 
>  @prefix ns:  http://example.net/myschema/ .
>  ns:element a rdf:Resource
> 
>  @prefix ns:  http://example.net/myschema/elem .
>  ns:ent a rdf:Resource
> 
> while the following XML statements are different:
> 
>  <ns:element xmlns:ns="http://example.net/myschema/" />
> 
>  <ns:ent xmlns:ns="http://example.net/myschema/elem" />
> 
> Hence, there is no 1-to-1 relation between RDF namespaces and XML
> namespace, and a generic translation between the two does not exist.
> 
> 
> Regards,
> Freek
> 
> 
> PS: for those who think things can not be this hairy, let me quote one
> of the replies I got when I asked about this issue on the xml-dev list:
> 
> 
> 
> -------- Original Message --------
> Subject: Re: [xml-dev] Same namespace for XSD and RDF
> Date: Tue, 24 Jul 2012 22:01:54 -0400
> From: Simon St.Laurent <simonstl at simonstl.com>
> Reply-To: <simonstl at simonstl.com>
> To: <xml-dev at lists.xml.org>
> 
>> At 2012-07-20 17:31 +0200, Freek Dijkstra wrote:
>>> Our (standardisation) group has defined a schema, and wants a
>>> representation of it in both XML and RDF. For ease of use, we like to
>>> use the same namespace identifier, even at the drawback that we can't
>>> publish both the XSD and OWL description at that same URL. Both XML
>>> and RDF allow a schema name ending in a word
>>> (http://example.org/myschema), or add a slash or hash "#" at the end.
>>> 
>>> In particular, what are the EXACT rules for adding or removing a hash
>>> (#) at the end of a namespace?
>> 
>> There are none for the general case.  A namespace is a simple URI
>> string that is used in conjunction with an element's name or an
>> attribute's name to distinguish the construct from other constructs
>> with the same name and a different URI string.
>> 
>> Full stop.
> 
> Yes, absolutely, with one caveat.  Do not pause to think about this for
> very long, or you will quickly find yourself recreating H.P. Lovecraft's
> "The Dreams in the Witch House" with minor variations:
> 
> -----------------------------------
> Whether the dreams brought on the fever or the fever brought on the
> dreams Walter Gilman did not know. Behind everything crouched the
> brooding, festering horror of the ancient town, and of the mouldy,
> unhallowed garret gable where he wrote and studied and wrestled with
> namespaces and media types when he was not tossing on the meagre iron
> bed. His ears were growing sensitive to a preternatural and intolerable
> degree...
> 
> Possibly Gilman ought not to have studied so hard. The proper relations
> between resources, fragment identifiers, and namespaces are enough to
> stretch any brain, and when one mixes them with folklore, and tries to
> trace a strange background of cyberspace reality behind the ghoulish
> hints of the Gothic tales and the wild whispers of the chimney-corner,
> one can hardly expect to be wholly free from mental tension. Gilman came
> from Haverhill, but it was only after he had entered college in Arkham
> that he began to connect his hypermedia with the fantastic legends of
> elder magic.
> -------------------------------------
> 
> It's hard to improve upon Lovecraft, but that seems a reasonable update.
> 
> If you want to find out how it went with mere "non-Euclidean calculus
> and quantum physics", see:
> 
> <http://www.dagonbytes.com/thelibrary/lovecraft/dreamswitchhouse.htm>
> 
> Thanks,
> Simon St.Laurent
> http://simonstl.com/
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