[XML-DEV Mailing List Archive Home] [By Thread] [By Date] [Recent Entries] [Reply To This Message] Re: Tags and Types (was Re: Re: maps)
> Joe English wrote: > > > > > Jonathan Borden wrote: > > > > > Different formats each have their advantages. The clear advantage of > > > explicit tags, is that the meaning is less ambiguous. e.g. > > > > > > <date> > > > <day>02</day> > > > <month>02</month> > > > <year>01</year> > > > </date> > > > > > > vs. > > > > > > "02-02-01" > > > > In the first example, did you mean 1 CE or 2001 CE? > > If the former, under which calendar should the day > > and month be interpreted? > > I've not specified, but that isn't needed. The former example is tagged, and > so the "01" may easily be interpreted with respect to the <year> element, > and its associated semantics (for example a schema might tell us, or a > namespace name might reference something like > > <div id="year"><p>Years in the Christian calender, to which 2000 is > added</p></div> I see no reason why the exact same provision cannot be made in the case of <date>2002-08-06</date> In the schema, you can say: "A date formatted as specified in ISO-8601" BTW, I always used 2002-08-06 On purpose *you* came up with "02-02-01", which, as well as your XML representation, has well-known problems in the general case. > > Sorry, I really don't see any decrease in ambiguity > > in the first form. > > > > Ambiguity is _decreased_ not eliminated because aside from which year we are > talking about we know which lexical value is intended to represent _some > year_ as opposed to _some day_. I also don't see any reduction in abiguity. You have explicitly put into the instance data that is well-documented in ISO-8601. You've only moved the authority, and I personally prefer the "YYY-MM-DD" form because it leaves the authority where it belongs. > If it didn't reduce ambiguity _some_ then there would hardly be a need for > XML, or SGML for that matter. Can you justify this statement? Seems a leap to me. -- Uche Ogbuji Fourthought, Inc. http://uche.ogbuji.net http://4Suite.org http://fourthought.com Track chair, XML/Web Services One Boston: http://www.xmlconference.com/ Basic XML and RDF techniques for knowledge management, Part 7 - http://www-106.ibm.com/developerworks/xml/library/x-think12.html Keeping pace with James Clark - http://www-106.ibm.com/developerworks/xml/libra ry/x-jclark.html Python and XML development using 4Suite, Part 3: 4RDF - http://www-105.ibm.com/developerworks/education.nsf/xml-onlinecourse-bytitle/8A 1EA5A2CF4621C386256BBB006F4CEC
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