RFC 100 (v1) Embed full URI support into Perl

This and other RFCs are available on the web at
  http://dev.perl.org/rfc/

=head1 TITLE

Embed full URI support into Perl

=head1 VERSION

   Maintainer: Nathan Wiger <[email protected]>
   Date: 14 Aug 2000
   Version: 1
   Mailing List: [email protected]
   Number: 100
   Status: Developing

=head1 ABSTRACT

Currently, Perl does not natively support URIs. It would be
really cool if it did, since this would make writing and
maintaining portable programs a breeze.

=head1 DESCRIPTION

Full URI support gives us several benefits:

   1. It allows easy authoring of portable scripts

   2. It is a stable and well-established standard

   3. It is easily recognizable and very web-friendly

The key syntax benefit is #1. This lets us use URIs in any
function to allow scripts that can be used on many platforms
simultaneously:

   $fo = open "C:\Windows\System";        # non-portable
   $fo = open "file://C|/Windows/System"; # portable

   unlink "/local/etc/script.conf";       # non-portable
   unlink "file:///local/etc/script.conf";# portable

If portability is not a concern, then scripts can be written
using the familiar, native syntax. Otherwise, all Perl funcs
should be able to accept URIs so that writing portable 
programs is simple.

=head1 IMPLEMENTATION

B<Internally>, URIs and native filenames should be converted
into a third, different representation. This allows for the
easy conversion back and forth between them. For example,
URIs could be converted to native filenames and then the
native filenames passed to the actual functions. Indeed, this
is the way URIs often work.

The internal representation of Perl filenames is covered in
RFC 36 and is beyond the scope of this RFC.

=head1 REFERENCES

RFC 36: Structured Internal Representation of Filenames 

http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/msg00096.html

http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/msg00117.html

http://www.w3.org/Addressing/