[XML-DEV Mailing List Archive Home] [By Thread] [By Date] [Recent Entries] [Reply To This Message] RE: Who can implement W3C XML Schema ?
>> I begin to be really worried about the "implementability" of W3C XML >> Schema and I'd like to give an example of what I have already >> experienced several times in the past months (I insist that this is an >> example and almost the general case, *not* an exception). > > I have to agree. I keep coming across schemas that validate in one tool, but > not in another. Sometimes the schema is valid but wrongly described as <snip/> > The guys that write these tools are not stupid. If they haven't got it right > by now, I worry for the future of XML Schema. I think a lot of the problem can be traced back to the goshawful W3C recommendations - they are such a pain to wade through that I suspect a lot of developers ignore them entirely and work from secondary sources such as "commentaries," tutorials, and other people's products. I'm usually a stickler for working from the best source but with XML I've fallen into the trap of relying on tutorials instead of the W3C recommendations and doing so has bitten me on the bum more than once. Consider this, the actual requirements of W3C XML Schema are *far* less complex than those defining most programming languages, most embedded systems, many data formats, or almost any process-oriented product. Yet there seems to be far less agreement than there should be about what those requirements actually *are*. That is not unusual for a format under development. However, when you have a product that has reached the status of a recommendation and are *still* seeing frequent divergence between implementations, the only reasonable conclusion is that the language of the specification is at fault. Even a precise specification remains essentially worthless if developers of average intelligence and experience frequently fail to derive its intended meaning. Likewise, a specification so "unfriendly" that significant numbers of developers ignore it in favor of secondary sources can only be described as poor. John Atchley Senior Software Analyst Engineering and Design, Courseware Support FlightSafety International, Inc. mailto:John.Atchley@F...
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