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RE: Motivations for namespaces (sorry)

• To: <xml-dev@l...>
• Subject: RE: Motivations for namespaces (sorry)
• From: "Geoff" <geoff@g...>
• Date: Thu, 10 Jul 2003 07:59:48 +1000
• In-reply-to: <16140.3589.719083.55307@m...>
• Thread-index: AcNGF5CPRR6bYhl2RjKs1VpFtrNX3gARlY3g

In response to:

 > Got some inspiration from the "Looking for an example of a name
 > collission" thread. It's funny that no one seem to be able to
 > present a *good* working example of how namespaces solves name
 > conflicts. I'm not opposing namespaces myself, but I still try to
 > find the right place for them.

Namespaces are crucial for name collision prevention in the application of
XML that I am most familiar with (XBRL - http://www.xbrl.org).  The XBRL
specification provides a restricted framework for writing WXS schemas to
support business reporting (eg financial statements).  Because it leads to a
proliferation of WXS schemas, all with elements relating to the same kinds
of concepts (eg: US accounting standards definition of cash vs IFRS
accounting standards definition of cash) but having subtly different
underlying meaning.

The ability to use namespaces to prevent element name collisions in that
context is crucial but, interestingly, the same XBRL processing software can
crunch right through all of the different elements that have had their
syntax defined using the XBRL framework.

For more concrete examples, take a look at the taxonomies (Schemas and
supporting XLink semantics) provided at 

http://www.xbrl.org/resourcecenter/taxonomies.asp?sid=22

Regards

Geoff Shuetrim

• References:
  • re: Motivations for namespaces (sorry)
    • From: David Megginson <david@m...>

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