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Re: 'about' and 'describes' appear to have significant overlap

Erik Wilde <erik.wilde@dret.net> Mon, 29 October 2018 07:55 UTC

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Subject: Re: 'about' and 'describes' appear to have significant overlap
To: Simon.Cox@csiro.au, link-relations@ietf.org
References: <1dc9817c61094a889ef7d9dd247f56a8@exch1-mel.nexus.csiro.au>
From: Erik Wilde <erik.wilde@dret.net>
Message-ID: <572f87dc-41f1-717e-94cf-846b197fee6e@dret.net>
Date: Mon, 29 Oct 2018 07:55:55 +0000
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hello simon.

On 2018-10-28 23:59, Simon.Cox@csiro.au wrote:
> The relations 'about' and 'describes' appear to have significant overlap.
> I’ve looked at both RFCs but neither mentions the other.
> Is there a succinct explanation of the difference?

like many link relations, 'about' and 'describes' are fuzzy in their 
scope and definition. 'describes' in particular is probably so generic 
that you can use it for pretty much anything. i would find it surprising 
if there was any possible succinct explanation of the difference.

personally, i think that link relations almost always depend on the 
context they're used in. in one API you might find something exposed as 
'about' links, which in a different API is exposed as 'describes' links. 
you have to know the context (the APIs) to understand what they expose, 
and how they do it.

cheers,

dret.

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erik wilde | mailto:erik.wilde@dret.net |
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