[XML-DEV Mailing List Archive Home] [By Thread] [By Date] [Recent Entries] [Reply To This Message] XML Spaghetti (Was Re: XML spec dependencies chart --)
In a message dated 15/04/01 20:47:18 GMT Daylight Time, igraham@i... writes: As part of a lecture, I prepared a slide showing the dependencies of the Ian, A short time ago Simon St Laurent posted on list regarding a fork in the XML road. Your diagram confirms my suspicion that the fork is covered in XML Spaghetti. What I am about to say is not a criticism of the diagram, I simply wish to point out that the diagram in my view seriously underestimates the complexity of the relationships. It is incomplete, in the sense that XML Encryption, XMLP/SOAP, VoiceXML etc are not mentioned. I appreciate that it could be argued that these are at too early a stage to merit inclusion. But who can doubt that they are coming? Dependencies for individual technologies are also oversimplified. For example, SVG has dependencies on the XML Stylesheets rec, XLink, XPointer (parts), SMIL 1.0, SMIL Animation, SMIL 2.0, DOM Level 1, DOM Level 2, CSS2. I am not sure if that is exhaustive but it gives an idea of the problem from the user point of view. Those dependencies are not shown. Not to mention the impending cloying dependencies of many specs on W3C XML Schema! I understand that those are not yet imposed but when they are that too will add significantly to the complexity. What happens in a year or two? Again taking SVG as a possible example, what will happen with a (as yet hypothetical) SVG 2.0 spec? How will it relate to the 18 modules of CSS3, the modules of DOM Level 3 and a whole host of other specs? Which ones will it relate to? How does a user find their way to untangle the XML spaghetti? If XML was designed to be "simple", or at least simpler than SGML, how is that we have arrived so soon at this XML Spaghetti? If your perception of exponential growth is correct, and I suspect it is, the tangle of XML Spaghetti can only become more daunting with time. Andrew Watt
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