Re: Boost.URL -- some notes

From: Gavin Lambert (boost_at_[hidden])
Date: 2022-06-07 00:10:25

On 5/06/2022 10:29, Vinnie Falco wrote:
> The decision that I have made is to just ignore the RFC's guidance on
> what URL means, and instead use the term as it has become popularly
> known. I believe that the distinction between URL and URI is just not
> recognized by the general public and in particular the wide audience
> to which Boost.URL applies. No one asks you for your URI, but everyone
> asks you for your URL. People put URLs into the address bar. No one
> says "type this URI into the address bar." The address bar accepts
> non-http schemes such as mailto and file. These are technically URIs
> (see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mailto). But no one calls them
> that.

file is also an URL protocol, although you're correct that mailto is 
not.  I don't think anyone actually types mailto: addresses into the 
address bar on a browser, though (nor can I think of any other URIs that 
someone might manually type, except for things like about:config that 
are browser-specific).

You're correct that the wider public doesn't really understand the 
distinction, but it does seem a bit weird that you're mixing the terms. 
Perhaps you should just use URL everywhere, if you don't like URIs?