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

Re: Feeler for SML (Simple Markup Language)

• From: Eric Bohlman <ebohlman@n...>
• To: "Simon St.Laurent" <simonstl@s...>
• Date: Mon, 15 Nov 1999 23:15:09 -0800 (PST)

On Mon, 15 Nov 1999, Simon St.Laurent wrote:

> At 10:46 AM 11/15/99 -0800, Tim Bray wrote:
> >Right, that's it exactly.  Even if you happen to be using a processor
> >that might try to resolve them.  Sorry, I just don't see this as a big deal.
> 
> Try explaining this glitch to people who don't understand XML well enough
> to understand what an 'external entity' is a few hundred times, and perhaps
> your opinion of its importance will change.  The guy who used '&mycompany;'
> may know what it means, but the lucky troubleshooter on the other end may
> well not know - and probably shouldn't have to know.
> 
> We're probably stuck with the mess, but unfortunately it's a very big deal
> to certain classes of users, particularly those who'd like XML application
> to process XML documents without a lot of oversight about 'what XML really
> is'.

Whoa there!  This is starting to remind me of some of the flamewars on
comp.lang.perl.misc over whether it's reasonable to expect a programmer to
RTFM!  If a particular wireless protocol really does need to be usable by
script kiddies [1], then the solution, to the extent that one is possible,
is to hide all the details in an application-specific API.  If someone
doesn't want to understand what XML is, to the extent of knowing what an
external entity is, they should *not* be using an API that's expressed in
terms of XML constructs!  If the protocol can't handle external
entitities, yet needs to be usable by Web Slaves who wouldn't know a
markup language from a hole in the ground, then you need an API whose
implementation isn't capable of generating external entity references.
It's that simple.

[1] A script kiddie is someone who writes (or more likely cuts and pastes)
code without having, or desiring to have, a mental model of what the code
does; someone who thinks of code as magical incantations and asks "what do
I need to type to make this happen."  Script kiddies are to programming as
prooftexters are to theology.



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 unsubscribe, mailto:majordomo@i... the following message;
unsubscribe xml-dev
To subscribe to the digests, mailto:majordomo@i... the following message;
subscribe xml-dev-digest
List coordinator, Henry Rzepa (mailto:rzepa@i...)

• Follow-Ups:
  • Re: Feeler for SML (Simple Markup Language)
    • From: Steven Champeon <schampeo@h...>
  • RTFM for XML
    • From: "Simon St.Laurent" <simonstl@s...>

• References:
  • Re: Feeler for SML (Simple Markup Language)
    • From: "Simon St.Laurent" <simonstl@s...>

• Prev by Date: Re: Feeler for SML (Simple Markup Language)
• Next by Date: Re: Feeler for SML (Simple Markup Language)
• Previous by thread: Re: Feeler for SML (Simple Markup Language)
• Next by thread: RTFM for XML
• Index(es):
  • Date
  • Thread