[XML-DEV Mailing List Archive Home] [By Thread] [By Date] [Recent Entries] [Reply To This Message] RE: Markup perspective not code
On Thu, 1 Aug 2002, Doug Rudder wrote: > > Tim Bray responded: > > > > > Too simple I think. Particularly given that almost all of the > > > advantages of XML over SGML were based on the principle of "leave out > > > everything except what programmers actually understand and use." -Tim Consider that XML removed several things that users relied upon. > Aaron Skonnard Responded: > > > > I agree with Tim here and have a hard time seeing how XML is a useful > > *technology* to anyone but "programmers". Users of "markup" (who are not > > devs) are simply using pre-defined vocabularies defined by programmers. I have a deal of sympathy for Simon's perspective. Perhaps the most verdurous aspect of XML is the way it throws open the doors of the cathedral, inviting users to partake of the sacrament, much to the chagrin of the priests bowed before their hex-editors. In fact, but you have guessed this already, I would not be a developer were it not for markup. I arrive here via typesetting--the original markup being proofreader's marks--by way of macro writing, vocabulary development and a few years of diligent self-study. > > This is a two-edged sword that cuts between the document-centric and > data-centric views of XML. Is an XML instance structured document content or > a data set? It seems as though the answer could be: both. I concur. Both/and, but I find it more productive to appreciate markup applications as an expansion of the idea of a document rather than a constraint upon the notion of data. > The idea that markup users "are simply using pre-defined vocabularies > defined by programmers" is only partially true. It is little true at all, in my experience. The worst definitions are those prepared by programmers: either constrained to the point of frangibility or completely ad-hoc, I've been forced to write against both. Where it is possible to unite a group of experienced users dedicated to improving their lot with an informed amanuensis skilled in humane and arcane disciplines.... > It is true that > the dev is the one who has to construct the final DTD/Schema Thank's be that is simply erroneous. Contract schema development *should* be the most lively field at the moment. Alas. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Mike Haarman mhaarma@s...
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