6.9.2011 18:43, Tab Atkins Jr. wrote:
If comments are generally "self-contained compositions", what would be an
example of a composition that is _not_ self-contained?
A <section> of an article, for example.
I see no reason why a section of an article could not be self-contained.
For example, in any lengthy presentation, there should be an
introductory part, and it had better be self-contained. So should a
summary, and quite often many appendix-like parts.
Besides, referring to markup as defined in HTML5 (which is, no matter
whether you think of it as a living standard or a sequence of drafts,
something that hasn't been seriously implemented and widely used in this
respect) is at a wrong category level. The question "what would be an
example of a composition that is _not_ self-contained" really calls for
examples of content, no matter what its markup might be.
You seem to think (and the living standard's current manifestation / the
current draft may well be based on such thinking too) that
"self-contained" means "not part of any other composition". That's not
my understanding of "self-contained". Rather, being self-contained means
that the presentation is complete, not implying some external content or
requiring the recipient to get part of the information from elsewhere.
Self-contained presentation is, to me, something that you can read in a
bus without any Internet connection or books to consult, without
requiring that have read some specific prerequisites.
Here's what Webster's Encyclopedia Unabridged Dictionary of the English
Language says about "self-contained": "containing in oneselfor itself
all that is necessary; independent".
I don't that this message of main is "self-contained", and typical blog
postings are even clearer examples. My message contains a reference to
and a quotation from the message being commented on, but it's still very
far from being self-contained. One needs to know or learn quite a lot
about the topic area, the specific issue being discussed, and the
previous discussion to understand this message.
And this applies a bit stronger to, say, comments like "Bullshit!" :-)
--
Yucca, http://www.cs.tut.fi/~jkorpela/
