Hi Mark,

Mark said:
>  More or less, yes.  But I like to focus on "identifying resources"
>  rather than "encoding queries".  Think of a query as identifying
>  something.  For example, this query identifies all resources that
>  Google knows about that includes your name.
> 
>  http://www.google.com/search?q=didier+martin

Didier replies:
I do not want to start a new debate but URLs express locations (Uniform
Resource Location). We could as well use URNs (Uniform Resource Name) to
fetch something by name. I agree with the fact the we could use URIs
(Uniform Resource Identifier). However, you do not *concretely* address the
fact that we may want to fetch a document using more or less complex queries
or if you want *Identifier*. Nonetheless, if I want to express something
like the Oracle SQL query how do I do that with a URI. And *No* I cannot
create a query document and store it on the remote server and then call it
with a simple HTTP GET (using a URL). To replace the actual *wrong* practice
of using HTTP POST to formulate complex document queries, we have to propose
something more solid than etherized nomads.

Mark said:
>  I think the creation of new URIs is a wonderful side effect (no pun
>  intended 8-) of having a single "retrieve" method.  Looking at
>  PROPFIND again, if the "properties for a resource" were identified by a
>  separate URI rather than retrieved via a non-GET method, then we could
>  make assertions about the properties, cache them, use XSLT on them, etc.
>  All the goodies you get by having a URI.
> 
>  The "U" in URI stands for "uniform" (previously "universal"), which
>  means that a URI identifies the same "thing" in all contexts.  Having
>  a single method meaning "show we what you are"/"resolve"/etc.. helps
>  ensure that uniformity/universality is maintained.

Didier replies:
Now we are on the same wavelength ;-)

cheers
Didier PH Martin


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