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Re: limits of the generic

• To: simonstl@s... (Simon St.Laurent)
• Subject: Re: limits of the generic
• From: John Cowan <jcowan@r...>
• Date: Fri, 27 Sep 2002 17:38:56 -0400 (EDT)
• Cc: xml-dev@l...
• In-reply-to: <r01050300-1015-C8E93A58D25E11D685CC0003937A08C2@[192.168.124.21]> from "Simon St.Laurent" at Sep 27, 2002 05:19:19 PM

Simon St.Laurent scripsit:

> (RELAX NG is on the boundary of this, I think, but crosses out of it at
> times, in things like mixed content processing.)

Can you elaborate on this?

> Unfortunately, there are also technologies which attempt to provide
> meaning.  These technologies often define vocabularies which are meant
> to be useful across all situations, but which can only prove effective
> in situations which correspond to the worldviews of their designers.
> W3C XML Schema is a classic case (especially its datatypes), but XLink
> now seems destined to join it as a limited technology whose ambitions
> outran its abilities.

XLink's got a syntax, and if you don't like it, you can lump it.  But if
you have managed to dethrone the past, adopting that syntax is not so bad.

Does anybody *really* believe that Joe Website will be writing perfect
XHTML 2.0 without tools?

> Can we give up on the dream of generic semantics so that we can get some
> real work done with labeled structured content?  Please?  A single
> syntactic solution is useful.  A single semantic solution is a wretched
> hairshirt straitjacket.

+1

-- 
If you have ever wondered if you are in hell,         John Cowan
it has been said, then you are on a well-traveled     http://www.ccil.org/~cowan
road of spiritual inquiry.  If you are absolutely   http://www.reutershealth.com
sure you are in hell, however, then you must be         jcowan@r...
on the Cross Bronx Expressway.          --Alan Feur, NYTimes, 2002-09-20

• Follow-Ups:
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    • From: "Rick Jelliffe" <ricko@a...>
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    • From: "Simon St.Laurent" <simonstl@s...>
  • Re: limits of the generic
    • From: Ann Navarro <ann@w...>

• References:
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    • From: "Simon St.Laurent" <simonstl@s...>

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