Java Glossary : URN

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URN: Uniform Resource Number. These will eventually replace URLs. A URN will automatically find the file you want from the closest or least busy server where the file is mirrored/cached. You can think of a URN as analogous to extending the ISBN book cataloging system to cover all the web pages as well. If you think about how paper books are distributed through wholesalers, bookstores and libraries, that will give you a metaphorical framework with which to think about URN caching. It works on much the same economic principles. You just ask for a document my URN, and you get the nearest copy. You don't get a copy from a central server the way you do now. The main difference is that with a URN, it is very cheap to Xerox a whole "book". Whoever is in charge of URNs have been dragging their feet for years. People are getting impatient waiting. Napster is a crude attempt to do this for music files.
URI ¤ URL

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