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Re: Name for XML DTDs

• From: Paul Prescod <papresco@t...>
• To: "'Xml-Dev (E-mail)'" <xml-dev@i...>
• Date: Sun, 24 May 1998 18:09:39 -0400

James K. Tauber wrote:
> 
> > By analogy to XPointer and XLink, how about XSchema?
> 
> I would prefer to see the term "schema" reserved for the overall group of
> document grammar specification languages (of which DTD, XML-Data and this
> proposal are examples).

XSchema does not disqualify the wider use of the word "schema", any more
than "XPointer" makes it difficult to talk about TEI Pointers or C++
Pointers or XLink makes it difficult to talk about SGML implicit link,
HTML <LINK> etc.

I like XSchema.

> How about XTD?  It could stand for Extensible Type Definition or XML Type 
> Definition.

I also like this, as long as we get the plurality right. Each document
will have multiple type definitions within it. So it makes sense to say
"here's my XTD document", but not "here's my XTD" (which would imply a
single definition).

I also like the fact that neither of the proposals above imply that the
definitions necessarily define whole document types. Many things we call
"DTDs" actually only define parts of document types (e.g. CALS table DTD).
In fact, precisely speaking, almost everything we call a DTD only defines
a part of a DTD(e.g. DocBook).

 Paul Prescod  - http://itrc.uwaterloo.ca/~papresco

"You have the wrong number."
"Eh? Isn't that the Odeon?"
"No, this is the Great Theater of Life. Admission is free, but the 
taxation is mortal. You come when you can, and leave when you must. The 
show is continuous. Good-night." -- Robertson Davies, "The Cunning Man"

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