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Re: XML Schemas: Needs Marketing?

• From: "Simon St.Laurent" <simonstl@s...>
• To: "cbullard@h..." <"Len Bullard"@mail.HiWAAY.net>
• Date: Wed, 16 Feb 2000 12:17:22 -0500

At 08:32 AM 2/15/00 -0600, Len Bullard wrote:
>On Tue, Feb 15, 2000 at 08:32:49AM -0600, Len Bullard wrote:
>> If history is the guide, it will be simplified by the authors of
>> articles 
>> and books on the subject.  

If only it were that simple.  Although most XML books and articles hammer
home the same subset for starters, pretty much everyone goes their own
direction on details.  We all start from the same standard, but where we
end up and where our readers end up are at least slightly different for
every book.

In pretty much all of the XML books I've written, there's a nice 10-20 page
chapter that could be retitled "all you really need to know to use XML" -
basically, how to create well-formed documents.  The rest of the books go
on to explain all the rest, and implementation.  My latest, _XML Elements
of Style_ goes furthest out for me, paying extra attention to the parts of
XML (notations, unparsed entities, funky parameter entities) that are often
dropped from coverage in other places. 

>>The example code gets cobbled in the context 
>> of the implementations vendors provide.  IOW, on any given day, I learn 
>> more about web application building from trolling the MSDN and knowledge 
>> base than I do the specs.  Certainly, that may not be the most in depth 
>> way, but it gets the work done.  That is one level of the food chain.

The implementation is really where the simplification process takes place,
but there's a problem here.  Vendors have more of an incentive to do their
own simplifications than do book authors, because more is typically at
stake.  Interoperability is less of a concern, because the vendor can
guarantee that their XML approach works with their product.  Book writers
covering the technology in general typically have to worry about ensuring
that things work in more than one place.

Simon St.Laurent
XML Elements of Style / XML: A Primer, 2nd Ed.
Building XML Applications
Inside XML DTDs: Scientific and Technical
Cookies / Sharing Bandwidth
http://www.simonstl.com

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