[XML-DEV Mailing List Archive Home] [By Thread] [By Date] [Recent Entries] [Reply To This Message] Re: CDATA by any other name... (was The raw and the cooked)
>I do *not* agree that XML won't come into its own until we bypass >all the syntax and think only in terms of abstract data structures. >Having watched this profession for 20 years ago, I have come to >believe that a truly interoperable API is very nearly an oxymoron; >but syntax is something we know how to interoperate with. Also I >just don't believe that there is One True data model for XML. I agree that defining what is and is not well-formed and valid XML ought to be a readily achievable goal, and it is a little surprising to find an area where the spec is ambiguous on the matter. Hence my suggestion for a formal analysis to discover whether there are other unsuspected problems. I also agree that defining what a conformant XML processor should do with that XML (not to mention what it should do with erroneous XML) is considerably harder, though I think the problem becomes tractable if the behaviour is defined in terms of a concrete API such as SAX or DOM. I agree with those who have pointed out that formalisms like Z are not a good vehicle for communicating a standard to a wide audience. In my own experience, however, the kind of thinking required to produce a formal specification in Z is invaluable when trying to produce an unambiguous one in clear English. I don't believe that precision and readability are incompatible goals. There is information about Z, by the way, on http://www.non.com/news.answers/z-faq.html Mike Kay xml-dev: A list for W3C XML Developers. To post, mailto:xml-dev@i... Archived as: http://www.lists.ic.ac.uk/hypermail/xml-dev/ To (un)subscribe, mailto:majordomo@i... the following message; (un)subscribe xml-dev To subscribe to the digests, mailto:majordomo@i... the following message; subscribe xml-dev-digest List coordinator, Henry Rzepa (mailto:rzepa@i...)
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