TheArchitect.co.uk - Jorgen Thelin's weblog

KeithBa's new book and Cool URLs

Being a true blogger, Keith has set up a weblog for additional material related to the book, such as errata, code snippets, etc. Here's the URL:
http://www.keithba.net/book/

Now take a look at that URL again. Does that URL mean this is the one and only book Keith will ever write in his career??? I suspect not.

I have a strong feeling the URL is not going to be a "Cool URL" according to the definition in the W3C Style guide:

What makes a cool URI?
A cool URI is one which does not change.
What sorts of URI change?
URIs don't change: people change them.

There are no reasons at all in theory for people to change URIs ..., but millions of reasons in practice. [ Read more ... ]

[ W3C - Cool URIs don't change ]

Reminds me very much of the way MSDN used to approach URLs on their web site - constantly changing as new stuff got added.
It must be something in the soda they serve on the Microsoft campus! ;-)

What's wrong with permanent URLs, guys?

This is all part of the problem of "evolvability" of the web, and is one of the things that really annoys me sometimes. I think it's a sign that people are forgetting how the web works - once a link is out there, you can never get it back ever. It's one of the the ultimate examples of the "versioning problem" which plagues our industry. Sure, HTTP redirects can be used to forward to a new address, so long as you remember, but if you didn't remember about the issue the first time round, you probably won't the second time round either.

But anyway, apart from this fast developing into a soapbox rant, I do wish Keith well in his publishing career.

BTW, Keith is chair of the WS-I Basic Profile working group, so he should be used to me giving him grief on procedural issues by now ;-)