Subject: [apps-discuss] JSON Pointer should be called JPath

From: Nico Williams <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 21 Sep 2012 11:47:07 -0500

See subject.

We have enough trouble as it is with different terminology for the
same concepts all over the place.  Why add more to the pile of sets of
synonyms that we already have?  I don't know the story of why it's
JSON Pointer, not JSON Path or JPath (maybe a naming conflict?  maybe
JSON Pointer has so much less functionality than XPath that it seemed
better to distinguish the name strongly?), but short of a trademark
dispute I also should not have to care, and neither should anyone
else.  If there's no trademark conflict then please rename this to
JSON Path or JPath.  If this doesn't happen ("too late"), well, at
least this post will record my objection.

Also, really, the I-D[*] for JSON Pointer ought to mention XPath with
an informative reference at the very, very least.  (I hope the authors
are in fact aware of XPath, and preferably also at least conversant
with it, if not fluent.  Some treatment of the functional differences
between XPath and JSON Pointer would be nice.)

Nico

[*]  The one I'm reading is
http://tools.ietf.org/html/draft-ietf-appsawg-json-pointer-04

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From: Mark Nottingham <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 21 Sep 2012 10:16:04 -0700

> least this post will record my objection.

You're objecting over a *name*? Really?

The most obvious reason we can't do this is that there's already something called JSON Path <http://goessner.net/articles/JsonPath/>. And before it's asked, I do think we have reasonable grounds for not using it (besides the fact that it hasn't been submitted); we need something with a much smaller profile.

> between XPath and JSON Pointer would be nice.)

This isn't an academic paper, it's a spec. If we mentioned every similar technology, we'd a) forget a bunch of people, thereby pissing them off, and b) make it about twice as long.

--
Mark Nottingham
http://www.mnot.net/

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From: Francis Galiegue <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 21 Sep 2012 19:58:12 +0200

On Fri, Sep 21, 2012 at 6:47 PM, Nico Williams <[email-masked]> wrote:
[...]
> an informative reference at the very, very least.
>

Why? XPath can select several nodes, JSON Pointer can "select" only
one. With the added advantage that it can be used in URI fragments.

Also, neither "/" or "" are valid XML tag names. In fact, a JSON
object member's name can be any JSON string value. JSON Path exists
but right now it cannot quite address such things either. JSON
Pointer, on the other hand, has no trouble with that.

-- 
Francis Galiegue, [email-masked]
JSON Schema: https://github.com/json-schema
"It seems obvious [...] that at least some 'business intelligence'
tools invest so much intelligence on the business side that they have
nothing left for generating SQL queries" (Stéphane Faroult, in "The
Art of SQL", ISBN 0-596-00894-5)