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On Tue, 3 Dec 1996, John Kunze wrote: > Yes, I mentioned that in another message and it's made as a side-point > in the User Guide. Jon Knight couldn't see the utility, although I > believe he was thinking purely about pragmatic implications for just > the Resource element (in which the utility is pretty limited) as opposed > to the larger, very useful implications for allowing either "pointers" > or "immediate" data content for all metadata elements. My main argument was including the whole resource; I very well aware that there are going to be identifiers of all sorts of shapes and sizes appearing in other Elements. I still don't see that as a reason to rename the Identifier element though. > > I think it would be better to think of metadata as just a particular > > type of structure. Would one use the name "Identifier" for a field in > > a structure that points to another structure? This is like calling it > > "Pointer" or "Reference". This applies even for a language that only > > allows one kind of value, say a pointer to a record, rather than > > either a pointer or an embedded record. > > > > It seems strange to me that people have a hard time understanding this > > simple concept. > > Exactly. I thought the programmers on the meta2 list would instantly > see how ludicrous the name Identifier looks from this point of view. > (I think the argument works with non-programmers as well.) As a programmer I really can't see the problem with calling the element that is destined to hold an identifier for the resource, "Identifier". I also can see the problem in including identifiers for external resources in other elements such as Relation. It seems eminently sensible and logical to me. Maybe its because I realise that DC metadata _isn't_ a programming language? Tatty bye, Jim'll -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Jon "Jim'll" Knight, Researcher, Sysop and General Dogsbody, Dept. Computer Studies, Loughborough University of Technology, Leics., ENGLAND. LE11 3TU. * I've found I now dream in Perl. More worryingly, I enjoy those dreams. *