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Re: malfunctioning, evil adult as XML

• To: <xml-dev@l...>
• Subject: Re: malfunctioning, evil adult as XML
• From: Gavin Thomas Nicol <gtn@r...>
• Date: Fri, 31 Jan 2003 01:41:33 -0500
• In-reply-to: <005e01c2c8ee$7699ae70$3401a8c0@b...>
• Organization: Red Bridge Interactive, Inc.
• References: <r01050400-1023-0FD4EC4934C111D791DA0003937A08C2@[192.168.124.11]> <000401c2c8d9$fb52a0f0$a800a8c0@SeairthA31> <005e01c2c8ee$7699ae70$3401a8c0@b...>
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On Friday 31 January 2003 01:03 am, James Clark wrote:
> > Remove the syntactic mess that is attributes.
> > (You will then find that you do not need them at all.)
>
> I think Erik's right that attributes in XML are a mess.  Either
>
> - they ought to have be able to structured values, just like elements (i.e.
> one could view the content of an element as a special unnamed attribute),
> or
>
> - they should be removed entirely.

In a language for marking up data vs. a language for marking up text, sure. 
For text (and many other things too), I found/find attributes to be very 
useful, so long as the values they contain are simple.

The very valid complaint that Erik makes is that XML has strayed from it's 
initial domain, into new territory where it's less than optimal. The tension 
that brings about is behind a lot of the complaints we hear.

• Follow-Ups:
  • Re: malfunctioning, evil adult as XML
    • From: "Alaric B. Snell" <alaric@a...>

• References:
  • malfunctioning, evil adult as XML
    • From: "Simon St.Laurent" <simonstl@s...>
  • Re: malfunctioning, evil adult as XML
    • From: "Seairth Jacobs" <seairth@s...>
  • Re: malfunctioning, evil adult as XML
    • From: "James Clark" <jjc@j...>

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