Where is the URL in the xml/xsl namespace stored?

Question

Hi all:

In the xml (or xsl) namespace, there is a URL which isn't quite a URL, I mean, the http thing in the code below:

e.g.

<xsl:stylesheet xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform" version="1.0">

I'm curious as to where is that URL actually point to, and where is the referenced things stored?

(I tried googling, but without the exact search string I get a billion different results)

Thanks.

Answer 1

This particular URL actually points to http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform. No surprise here.

Other than that, a namespace is just a string that should be unique. Http form is only used because it makes it easier to make namespaces unique without having to resort to non-human-readable things like GUIDs. You do not have to actually provide any content at the address the URL points to. It might be completely unbrowseable and non-existent.

Answer 2

It is not an URL but an URI, an identifier, which happens to use the http scheme.