Re: [RSS-DEV] Cross-Site Unique ID Formats? And ID Debating...

[allenjs@hotmail.com]

> a Microsoft COM GUID. These are 128 bits long and are, as the docs 
> "unique to a high degree of certainty." It would be cool if this
> was included somewhere within the RSS <channel> tag, and if there 

FYI, I am pretty sure that the GUID spec was around before it was 
used in COM (OSF DCE maybe?).  Doesn't every operating system on the 
planet now have the capability to generate unique GUIDs?

Besides, the new versions of Microsoft OS's use a secure hash as part 
of the GUID-generation process.  Think about this: you want a GUID 
for the feed at http://www.scripting.com.  Just take an MD5 hash of 
the URL "http://www.scripting.com";.  You get back a 128-bit number, 
and you are more likely to get hit by meteors twice in the same spot 
than that someone else's feed will have the same unique ID.  Now if 
you move the feed somewhere else, you can choose to keep the previous 
unique ID.  Simple, huh?  (although, a 128-bit number is just a tiny 
bit smaller than the string "http://www.scripting.com";, and if you 
represent the ID in hex, as GUIDs are, the GUID is actually *larger*!)

Anyway, I am not sure if that helps much -- I don't quite know what 
the unique IDs would be used for, but that is a simple way to 
generate a standard-sized unique ID that can be quickly searched or 
joined..