[XML-DEV Mailing List Archive Home] [By Thread] [By Date] [Recent Entries] [Reply To This Message] Re: Is an element's name metadata?
What is meta data depends on what you view as data. The element name could be considered to be meta data if the data (for you) is the collection of elements and attributes (as opposed to their content). In programmer's terms, the DOM getName() method is accessing element meta data. With this view of the world, 100% of the time, the element name is metadata for the construct that represents the element in the XML tree (infoset, DOM, call it what you will). If on the other hand your view is that the content is the data, then the classical view of XML is that the element is defining some form of meaning for the content it encloses - I have seen this referred to as the element being a "modifier" for the content (but I guess that depends on what "modifier" means to you ;-). So following this view, I don't think that one can come out and say that in 100% of cases the element name is meta data on the element content, because it is dependent on the form of modifier that the element is intended to express, it depends on your application. Consider <b>foo</b> - in XHTML, the <b> is a display modifier on its content but it doesn't really convey any semantic meta data at the kind of level that your <reporter> example does. Cheers, Kal Gustaf Liljegren wrote: >I've heard some people say that the markup is by itself metadata, that an >element's name is metadata, because it describes the element's content: > ><reporter> <-- This is metadata >John Smith <-- This is data ></reporter> > >Isn't this wrong? Comparing to what I learned from Dublin Core, metadata is >data too. It's not just the name of a property. I'd say it's the element's >context that decides whether <reporter> is a data or a metadata element. > ><reporter> <-- This is just the name of a property >John Smith <-- This may be metadata, depending on the element's context ></reporter> > >Is this the right way to think about metadata in XML? > >Gustaf > > >----------------------------------------------------------------- >The xml-dev list is sponsored by XML.org <http://www.xml.org>, an >initiative of OASIS <http://www.oasis-open.org> > >The list archives are at http://lists.xml.org/archives/xml-dev/ > >To subscribe or unsubscribe from this list use the subscription >manager: <http://lists.xml.org/ob/adm.pl> > > > > >
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