Tim Bray wrote:
On May 9, 2005, at 8:13 AM, Bill de h�ra wrote:
Why can't ve just leave a protocol element out if we don't have information for it???
Because it allows someone to assert there is no alternate link for their feed. That's different from leaving an alternate link out.
What observable difference in the behavior of software would be affected by this difference? It's not obvious to me that there's a meaningful difference. -Tim
The difference is in what can be concluded from the data, ie it's a 3-valued logic problem. Does the absence mean there's no alternate? Does it mean don't unknown? Do we need to care?
I think this exercise is *critical* for any piece of markup that is going to move from mandatory to optional. Either way, we should pin down spec language around the optionality of alternate feed links, or consciously decide we're not going to pin it down.
cheers Bill
