[XML-DEV Mailing List Archive Home] [By Thread] [By Date] [Recent Entries] [Reply To This Message] Re: Different schemas....
> Pamela Rais wrote: > Are there other such deviations from the Schema proposal out there? > If so, what are they? Probably all of them! > I'd appreciate any info that can enlighten me. I'm making the jump > from SGML/DTD's and it seems quite daunting. W3C XML Schemas is currently nearing the end of a long (more than 18 months) development, from basic designs prepared 3 years ago. It is currently at "Last Call" draft stage. So any implementation of XML Schemas is only a draft implementation. In fact, there is no such thing as an implementation of XML Schemas, only implementations of specific drafts! The head of each draft gives a paragraph clearly indicating its status as draft. See http://www.w3.org/TR/ For the most recent draft: "though the Working Group does not anticipate further changes to the functionality described here, this is still a working draft, subject to change. The present version should be implemented only by those interested in providing a check on its design or by those preparing for an implementation of the Candidate Recommendation. The Schema WG will not allow early implementation to constrain its ability to make changes to this specification prior to final release." This should be taken seriously! Obviously the XML Schema WG will be very loath to change things after the 6 public drafts. However, some things will change. People should not expect any current schema format which might claim to be a subset of XML Schemas to port instantly: the namespace may change slightly, the element or attribute names may change slightly, intermediate elements may be put in or elements coalesced, some things may be made more regular, some features may be somewhat reworked, some new features may be required. The XML community and the various stakeholders have recently been gratifyingly active in commenting on the draft. This is excellent news (I had been concerned before that people were more interested in banning comment delimiters than bringing out XML's capabilities); XML Schemas will determine the idioms and capabilities of the 2001 generation of XML products--it will be the face of XML for people from the database world in particular. So it is very important it has serious and hard review. However, you can expect the general framework of XML Schemas and the lion's share of the specifics to remain unaltered. Don't expect features to disappear. (Boring: The next formal steps for XML Schemas is to move to Candidate Recommendation for several months, to allow feedback from implementers and stakeholders. Then it becomes a Proposed Recommendation of W3C then a Recommendation shortly after that. I mentioned yesterday that there may be another Last Call draft, but please that is an opinion, not an announcement.) However the current draft is certainly stable enough to start developing schemas with. Don't forget that you will have a bit of time before XML Schema tools appear and are mature, perhaps 1Q/2001 is a prudent time to target. Don't plan as if XML Schemas is final now! (Please, I hope that XML-DEV does not take this as some foreshadowing of particular changes coming.) Rick Jelliffe (Member, W3C XML Schema WG, writing in private capacity)
|
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
|