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Re: Principles of XML design

• To: XML List Developers <xml-dev@l...>
• Subject: Re: Principles of XML design
• From: Gavin Thomas Nicol <gtn@r...>
• Date: Fri, 6 May 2005 21:08:05 -0400
• In-reply-to: <20050506215853.2F22F2A491A@m...>
• References: <20050506215853.2F22F2A491A@m...>

On May 6, 2005, at 5:58 PM, Richard Tobin wrote:

>> The point here is that a *syntax* defines nothing more than the 
>> grammar
>> of a data format...
>
> And XML is not *just* a syntax in that sense.  Some aspects of its
> semantics are made explicit in the XML spec, some are omitted, and
> some are left to the implementation.

Right... and this whole discussion started because of the lack of 
clarity there. My assertion is that we'd be better off taking all 
processing-specific notions out of the grammar, and specifying them 
elsewhere... because ultimately, I can choose to ignore or implement 
behaviour as I wish.

> People for whom whitespace between attributes is significant *in
> the application* are not using an XML application.

I think that's open to debate... I understand perfectly well where 
you're coming from, it's just that in reality, few people make that 
distinction. In a database that includes XQuery support etc. but which 
also support the notion of "checkin/checkout", people *will* get upset 
if things get munged much. It doesn't matter how many times you tell 
them that this is correct behaviour.

• References:
  • Re: Principles of XML design
    • From: richard@i... (Richard Tobin)

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