[XML-DEV Mailing List Archive Home] [By Thread] [By Date] [Recent Entries] [Reply To This Message]

Re: namespace revise

• To: xml-dev@l...
• Subject: Re: namespace revise
• From: Marcus Carr <mcarr@a...>
• Date: Thu, 22 Aug 2002 14:55:17 +1000
• References: <8BD7226E07DDFF49AF5EF4030ACE0B7E0696F80C@r...>
• User-agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; WinNT4.0; en-US; rv:1.0.0) Gecko/20020530

Since there has been no consensus in 4 years from the technical 
discussions, perhaps it may help to look at the namespace debate from a 
different angle - namely, the way issues typically get resolved on XML Dev.

With most of the new recommendations, there is a fairly predictable 
pattern. There will be an initial flurry, often based at least partly on 
misunderstanding. The points will get worked through, and gradually 
consensus will emerge. There may still be philosophical differences at 
some level, but "the generally accepted way" will emerge. The issue goes 
mostly cold, punctuated by new people asking mainly old questions - it 
starts to take on the look of an FAQ issue. Discussion diminishes to a 
minimum level, often with only the kindest souls taking time to explain 
things that have been hashed over many times before.

The namespace debate has been different - it has never tailed off. Every 
time someone new raises something, it's everyone in again, boots and 
all. This issue has defied the trend like no other - even the raging 
debate over whitespace had nothing like the legs that namespaces have 
had. As the XML community gets larger, rather than one opinion or the 
other gradually winning out, the numbers in both camps seem to be 
growing. Surely this is symptomatic of some sort of chronic problem?

Dare Obasanjo wrote:

> I'd be more interested in someone who can point out the the difficulty
> caused by namespaces in XML that don't boil down to philosophical or
> aesthetic arguments.

So philosophical and aesthetic difficulties don't count? I'd be equally 
  interested in someone who can make the philosophical and aesthetic 
arguments go away. While they exist, it's fair to argue that everyone 
new has difficulty with namespaces in XML.


-- 
Regards,

Marcus Carr                      email:  mcarr@a...
___________________________________________________________________
Allette Systems (Australia)      www:    http://www.allette.com.au
___________________________________________________________________
"Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler."
        - Einstein

• References:
  • RE: namespace reprise
    • From: "Dare Obasanjo" <dareo@m...>

• Prev by Date: Re: ANN: XML Schema of measurement units
• Next by Date: Best Practice = Vanilla XML? (was A multi-step approach on defining object-orientednatureof DOM)
• Previous by thread: Re: namespace reprise
• Next by thread: RE: namespace reprise
• Index(es):
  • Date
  • Thread