[XML-DEV Mailing List Archive Home] [By Thread] [By Date] [Recent Entries] [Reply To This Message] Re: Top-down or bottom-up?
Len Bullard writes: > > That's not what I mean -- creating a data model is tractable, but a > > data model is of questionable value if it's not based on a fairly > > accurate business model, use cases, etc. I don't think that any of us > > can reasonably draw up a reliable business model that will cover the > > Web for the next five years, and even the use cases will be pretty > > shakey. Without good models, bottom-up is our best bet. > > Umm.. isn't that why we do markup and write DTDs? They may not > last forever, but like mudbricks that cleave, they make a > reasonable structure and, well, beat the heck out of fighting bears > for caves. Just so, but imagine if we had all waited to start writing DTDs until ISO approved a master document architecture that would govern all DTDs in the SGML and XML document space (kudos to HyTime for trying, though). This is the point that I (and others) have been making in this discussion: a top-down approach (start with the master architecture) can work for something like a new parts-management system for ACME.com; a bottom-up approach (start with the components, such as individual specs and DTDs) is pretty much required in an open and fast-changing system like the Web. As Paul Prescod has pointed out, however, in both cases the process is really iterative: in a bottom-up approach, it's often useful to stop and throw together a straw-man architecture to see if what we've done so far makes sense together; in a top-down approach, it's often useful to stop and throw together some proof-of-concept components, to see if there will be any obvious implementation problems. The difference comes simply from which of the two is formalized. All the best, David -- David Megginson david@m... http://www.megginson.com/ 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/ and on CD-ROM/ISBN 981-02-3594-1 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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