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Re: Postel's law, exceptions

• To: 'xml-dev@l... ' <xml-dev@l...>
• Subject: Re: Postel's law, exceptions
• From: Michael Champion <mc@x...>
• Date: Tue, 13 Jan 2004 18:37:58 -0500
• In-reply-to: <15725CF6AFE2F34DB8A5B4770B7334EE03F9F139@h...>
• References: <15725CF6AFE2F34DB8A5B4770B7334EE03F9F139@h...>

On Jan 13, 2004, at 6:09 PM, Bullard, Claude L (Len) wrote:

> Pushback or no, Postel doesn't apply to XML by design.
>

I'm not sure I understand.  One might accept the principles of "XML by 
design" but fall afoul of the details, such as the common mistake of 
pasting text with smart quotes or ampersands into an XML document and 
having it rejected by a conforming parser.  Bill and Betty Blogger 
aren't happy about this; ideally they'll use tools that will do the 
right thing and escape or translate the character, but Gresham's Law is 
more likely to drive them towards non-conformant tools.

That poses a bit of a problem for the XML community -- is the rational 
response to "fix" the bits of XML that people stumble over [awaiting 
shrieks from the people who shot down XML 1.1], somehow coerce the 
myriad tool vendors into doing the Right Thing , or accepting that a 
new category of things I call Postel Machines is needed to mediate 
between the liberal real world and the conservative world of XML by 
Design.  I don't have a strong preference, but I'll bet on the Machines 
at this point; Gresham's Law will tend to keep the tool vendors 
liberal, and we all know what happens when somebody tries to muck with 
the XML 1.0 syntax.

• Follow-Ups:
  • Re: Postel's law, exceptions
    • From: Bob Foster <bob@o...>
  • Re: Postel's law, exceptions
    • From: Elliotte Rusty Harold <elharo@m...>

• References:
  • RE: Postel's law, exceptions
    • From: "Bullard, Claude L (Len)" <clbullar@i...>

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