[XML-DEV Mailing List Archive Home] [By Thread] [By Date] [Recent Entries] [Reply To This Message]

RE: Notations

• From: Ronald Bourret <rbourret@i...>
• To: "xml-dev@i..." <xml-dev@i...>, "'Michael Kay'" <M.H.Kay@e...>
• Date: Fri, 11 Dec 1998 11:00:19 +0100

Michael Kay wrote:

> > From: W. Eliot Kimber
> > Remember that notations do not affect the *parsing* of the data, only 
its
> > semantic interpretation.
>
> If that is so, I am back to square zero in my understanding of notations!
>
> For example, I thought that if I wanted to put MIDI data in an XML 
document,
> I would use notations to the indicate the fact. But I can't semantically
> interpret MIDI data (or even hear the music) before I've parsed it. The
> notation is surely there to tell me that it's MIDI, not that it's 
Vivaldi.

I think what Eliot means is that a generic parser does not treat the 
notated (notationized? annotated?) data any differently.  (In fact, a 
non-validating parser might not even know that it carries a notation.)  The 
parser parses the data in the same way it parses any other character data 
and passes it to the application.  It is then up to the *application* to 
interpret the data according to the notation.

For example, assuming MIDI data is binary, it might carry two notations. 
 The first would indicate that it is base64-encoded -- remember that this 
is still character data -- and the second would indicate that it is MIDI 
data.  Based on the first notation, the application would pass the 
character data to a base64 decoder to translate it to binary.  Based on the 
second notation, the application would pass the now-binary data to a MIDI 
application, which could play it for your enjoyment.

-- Ron Bourret


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...)

• Prev by Date: RE: Storing XML/Streaming HTML
• Next by Date: Re: Notations
• Previous by thread: Re: Notations
• Next by thread: Re: Notations
• Index(es):
  • Date
  • Thread