[XML-DEV Mailing List Archive Home] [By Thread] [By Date] [Recent Entries] [Reply To This Message]

RE: Scripting and XML

• From: David Megginson <ak117@f...>
• To: xml-dev Mailing List <xml-dev@i...>
• Date: Sun, 19 Oct 1997 15:22:04 -0400

Simon St.Laurent writes:

 > The word 'document' has received some heavy redefinition on the web
 > in the last year, with more changes coming every day.  'Live'
 > content is becoming more and more common - inside the HTML document
 > as well as in the process generating it.

This is a very good point; it is important to note, however, that in
XML, as in full SGML, a "document" does not necessarily consist of a
single file.  To my knowledge, no one has ever seriously tried to
include GIF or JPEG images inside an HTML file; we all accept that
they exist in separate files/entities, even though they form part of
the same document in the user's browser.  Why should non-XML
text-based data, like scripts, not be treated the same way as non-XML
binary data?

In compound documents, XML or full SGML provides two things:

1) a high-level schema to show how the compound document fits
   together (the entity structure); and

2) a method for presenting structural information (the element
   structure).

It certainly makes sense to include scripts in compound documents, but
I cannot see the advantage of mixing them in with the XML markup
itself -- they are a lot cleaner and easier to maintain when they are
in a separate file.

By the way, thanks for the tip about using JavaScript in separate
files -- I will take the time to give it a proper look.


All the best,


David

--
David Megginson                 ak117@f...
Microstar Software Ltd.         dmeggins@m...
      http://home.sprynet.com/sprynet/dmeggins/


xml-dev: A list for W3C XML Developers. To post, mailto:xml-dev@i...
Archived as: http://www.lists.ic.ac.uk/hypermail/xml-dev/
To (un)subscribe, mailto:majordomo@i... the following message;
(un)subscribe xml-dev
To subscribe to the digests, mailto:majordomo@i... the following message;
subscribe xml-dev-digest
List coordinator, Henry Rzepa (mailto:rzepa@i...)

• Follow-Ups:
  • RE: Scripting and XML
    • From: Rasmus Lerdorf <rasmus@l...>

• References:
  • RE: Scripting and XML
    • From: "Simon St.Laurent" <SimonStL@c...>

• Prev by Date: Re: Scripting and XML
• Next by Date: Re: Scripting and XML
• Previous by thread: RE: Scripting and XML
• Next by thread: RE: Scripting and XML
• Index(es):
  • Date
  • Thread