[XML-DEV Mailing List Archive Home] [By Thread] [By Date] [Recent Entries] [Reply To This Message] Strong Typing in SGML and XML
Ever since about 15 minutes after SGML was born, database people have been discovering, to their surprise, that it contains no facilities for strong data typing. You can have an element named <BIRTH-DATE>, and SGML will have no problem accepting <birth-date>purple bananas rule</birth-date>. Whenever more than two people start talking about the future of SGML, someone starts complaining about typing. With the advent of XML, the volume has increased. As an old database guy, I've been one of the loud complainers. While we're really not ready for this on the WG, it is something that we're going have to do something about before too long. So I've posted a modest proposal at: http://www.textuality.com/xml/typing.html Overview points: 1. This only types elements, not attributes. It's easier. 2. It's based on SQL types, not HyTime lextypes. That's what the database world is used to. This could probably be implemented using lextypes. 3. The syntax for dates and so on should match some ISO standard, but I haven't found which one yet. Cheers, Tim Bray tbray@t... http://www.textuality.com/ +1-604-708-9592 xml-dev: A list for W3C XML Developers Archived as: http://www.lists.ic.ac.uk/hypermail/xml-dev/ To unsubscribe, send to majordomo@i... the following message; unsubscribe xml-dev List coordinator, Henry Rzepa (rzepa@i...)
|
PURCHASE STYLUS STUDIO ONLINE TODAY!Purchasing Stylus Studio from our online shop is Easy, Secure and Value Priced! Download The World's Best XML IDE!Accelerate XML development with our award-winning XML IDE - Download a free trial today! Subscribe in XML format
|