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RE: ISO schemaTron

• To: 'Paul Downey' <paul.downey@w...>
• Subject: RE: ISO schemaTron
• From: "Bullard, Claude L (Len)" <len.bullard@i...>
• Date: Tue, 6 Dec 2005 13:32:12 -0600
• Cc: xml-dev@l...

Yes.  The test specifications were the next step.  
Alan Hudson was working on those last I checked.

The reference implementation was considered in VRML 
times but wisely turned down.  Once I understood the 
implications, it seemed the right idea to turn to 
the open source for open proofs of implementability 
and a test suite for the rest.

Sure, XML is a good first step and well-shared but 
it is about the sharing, not the technology.  The 
claims for interoperability based on XML are often 
over stressed in the spec process.  That led to a 
lot of angst and anger when X3D was being spec'd. 
The object model is the important piece and has 
proven itself as extensions have been added.

len


From: Paul Downey [mailto:paul.downey@w...]

On 5 Dec 2005, at 15:46, Bullard, Claude L (Len) wrote:
>
[snip]

> We debated a reference implementation but that has a way of
> strangling innovation for qualities such as speed and ease
> of extensibility.  Over time, the open source implementation
> became the proving ground for those who require transparency
> of process and code.  That works reasonably well.
>
> It was the lack of clear open source that killed many an
> early SGML project some which have well-known names.  So
> while it is true that ISO does not endorse them, it is a
> good idea to have implementors working side by side with
> the standards members for reasons most of us here understand
> I'm sure.

I'm not keen on the idea of a 'reference implementation', but
I'm a big fan of 'test driven specification', by which I mean
if you can't test it, and don't have a test for it, it doesn't
belong in the spec. Interoperable specifications describe how
things should work, not how people should think about things:-

XML technologies that define the order of pointy-brackets in a
stream of bits are going to interoperate a whole lot better than
those that describe the expected firing of neurones in a bag of meat.

Paul

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