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RE: XML Schemas: lost "open content models"?

• From: "Don Park" <donpark@d...>
• To: <xml-dev@x...>
• Date: Tue, 29 Feb 2000 13:38:33 -0800

Rick Jelliffe wrote:
>Then Don should love XML Schemas, since that is exactly its basis.
>Almost the only thing in it that has document scope is ID/IDREF; and
>even there it also provides an XSLT-inspired key mechanism.

Sorry for the late response.  No, I do not love the XML Schema spec.
There are some good bits in it but I do not agree with its top-down
approach to schema definition.  Bottom-up approaches like Schematron
and Dave Raggett's Assertion Grammars are more promising IMHO.

Imagine a distributed system based on XML-based communication channel
which carries hetrogeneous stream of XML data.  No single schema could
cover all data traffic on such communication channel.  Global B2B
network can not be brought down each time the schema changes.  Dynamic
inline schemas are the future IMHO and XML Schema fails to address
them in favor of static schemas: another infestation of document-centric
mindset.

I have no real complaint with using XML Schema for documents, but if
W3C starts selling XML Schema as the standard schema language for all
XML applications, I have to disagree.

With industry specific XML standards popping up daily, how does XML
Schema help reduce the chaos?  How do those slapstick "We are the
World" schema respositories help?  How does borrowing of schema
fragments from other XML formats equate to reuse?  How does namespaces
that focuses only on building walls between vocabularies help?  Let
the schema population out of control and we will soon see a Cultural
Revolution of our own.

Best,

Don Park    -   mailto:donpark@d...
Docuverse   -   http://www.docuverse.com


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