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<DIV dir=ltr align=left><FONT color=#0000ff size=2><SPAN
class=645053623-18102006>Nick:</SPAN></FONT></DIV><FONT><SPAN
class=645053623-18102006>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><FONT color=#0000ff size=2></FONT><BR><FONT
color=#0000ff size=2>Just wanted to comment on this and thank you. These were
extremely good <SPAN class=645053623-18102006>and eye-opening
</SPAN>reads<SPAN class=645053623-18102006> regarding the concept of "URI
Opacity"</SPAN>:</FONT></DIV></FONT>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><FONT color=#0000ff size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=645053623-18102006><FONT color=#0000ff
size=2> </FONT></SPAN><A
href="http://rest.blueoxen.net/cgi-bin/wiki.pl?RestAndUriOpacity#nid1SK"><FONT
color=#0000ff><FONT
size=2>http://rest.blueoxen.net/cgi-bin/wiki.pl?RestAndUriOpacity#nid1SK</FONT></FONT></A></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=645053623-18102006><FONT color=#0000ff
size=2> </FONT></SPAN><A class=extlink
href="http://groups.yahoo.com/group/rest-discuss/message/3232"><FONT
size=2>http://groups.yahoo.com/group/rest-discuss/message/3232</FONT></A></DIV><FONT>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><FONT color=#0000ff size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left></SPAN></FONT><SPAN class=645053623-18102006><FONT
color=#0000ff size=2>-Mike</FONT></SPAN></DIV><BR>
<DIV class=OutlookMessageHeader lang=en-us dir=ltr align=left>
<HR tabIndex=-1>
<FONT face=Tahoma size=2><B>From:</B> microformats-rest-bounces@microformats.org
[mailto:microformats-rest-bounces@microformats.org] <B>On Behalf Of </B>Nick
Gall<BR><B>Sent:</B> Monday, October 16, 2006 6:27 PM<BR><B>To:</B>
microformats-rest@microformats.org<BR><B>Subject:</B> [uf-rest] "Casual Web
Services" and Well Designed Urls<BR></FONT><BR></DIV>
<DIV></DIV><PRE style="FONT-FAMILY: arial,sans-serif"><FONT size=2><B>Etan Wexler</B> wrote to Microformats Discuss:<BR>>REST does not permit programmatic construction of URIs in which the<BR>>construction uses of out-of-band knowledge and bits of data.
</FONT></PRE><FONT style="FONT-FAMILY: arial,sans-serif" size=2>I'm sorry, but
this is flat out wrong. Nothing in REST, nothing in WWW architecture, and
certainly nothing in Roy T Fielding's dissertation forbids constructing URIs
based on "out of band documentation". This is one of the most pernicious
misunderstandings of web architecture that I feel compelled to help stamp it
out. <BR><BR>Here's what RTF has to say on the matter (see <A
href="http://rest.blueoxen.net/cgi-bin/wiki.pl?RestAndUriOpacity#nid1SK">http://rest.blueoxen.net/cgi-bin/wiki.pl?RestAndUriOpacity#nid1SK</A>):<BR><BR></FONT>"REST
does not require that a URI be opaque. The only place where the word opaque
occurs in my dissertation is where I complain about the opaqueness of cookies.
In fact, RESTful applications are, at all times, encouraged to use
human-meaningful, hierarchical identifiers in order to maximize the
serendipitous use of the information beyond what is anticipated by the original
application." <A class=nid title=1SK
href="http://rest.blueoxen.net/cgi-bin/wiki.pl?RestAndUriOpacity#nid1SK">(1SK)</A>
<DIV class=indent>
<P><A id=nid1SL name=nid1SL></A>-- <A class=extlink
href="http://groups.yahoo.com/group/rest-discuss/message/3232">http://groups.yahoo.com/group/rest-discuss/message/3232</A>
<A class=nid title=1SL
href="http://rest.blueoxen.net/cgi-bin/wiki.pl?RestAndUriOpacity#nid1SL">(1SL)</A></P></DIV>And
here is what the W3C TAG currently has to say about it: <A
href="http://www.w3.org/2001/tag/doc/metaDataInURI-31">http://www.w3.org/2001/tag/doc/metaDataInURI-31</A>.<BR><BR>In
short, the only time a URI should be considered opaque is when the person
looking at it has no documentation or code (eg a FORM element) to support their
speculation of what the components of the URI might mean. To put it simply:
URI's mean only what authorized code or documentation says what they mean (and
how they can be composed); don't speculate from the text embedded in the URI
what the rules are for composing such a URI. <BR><BR>-- Nick<BR clear=all><FONT
style="FONT-FAMILY: arial,sans-serif" size=2><BR></FONT>-- <BR>Nick
Gall<BR>Phone: +1.781.608.5871<BR>AOL IM: Nicholas Gall<BR>Yahoo IM:
nick_gall_1117<BR>MSN IM: (same as email)<BR>Google Talk: (same as
email)<BR>Email: nick.gall AT-SIGN gmail DOT com<BR>Weblog: <A
href="http://ironick.typepad.com/ironick/">http://ironick.typepad.com/ironick/</A><BR>Furl:
<A
href="http://www.furl.net/members/ngall">http://www.furl.net/members/ngall</A>
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