[thelist] URI or URL, which is more correct?

[Emma Jane Hogbin]

On Fri, Feb 27, 2004 at 10:29:33PM -0000, Tony Crockford wrote:
> would it be fair to say that what we know as a URL 
> (http://www.example.com/index.htm) is a URI and that the acronym URL is 
> being replaced by the acronym URI

Not really... URLs are definitely URIs so you're right about the first
part. But the acronym URL is not being "replaced" by URI.

http://www.w3.org/TR/uri-clarification/
Basically: URIs can be one of either 
	
	URL: Uniform Resource Locator (full file name including protocol)
	A very specific *place* or *filename*

or URN: Uniform Resource Name (e.g. ISBN)
	A unique *thing* but not necessarily a filename. A URN's "location"
	might change over time, but its URN would remain the same.

It's a bit like the old "all squares are rectangles, but not all
rectangles are squares). All URLs are URIs, but not all URIs are URLs.

More here: http://www.w3.org/Provider/Style/URI (Cool URIs don't change.)

Because URNs never really came into being so URIs and URLs became virtually
interchangeable.

Hope that helps,
emma

-- 
Emma Jane Hogbin
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