[XML-DEV Mailing List Archive Home] [By Thread] [By Date] [Recent Entries] [Reply To This Message] Re: The "what is XML" permathread revisited -- was Re:[xml-dev
+1 (And +3 if I may.) sdw Michael Champion wrote: > > On Apr 12, 2004, at 7:58 AM, Elliotte Rusty Harold wrote: > >> >> Different: not OK. If it's not a text format fully compatible with >> the XML specification, then it's not XML, and please don't use the >> word "XML" (or preferably the initial letter X) to describe it. XML >> is text. XML is syntax. XML is not the infoset. The infoset is >> derived from XML, not the other way around. SAX and DOM are are APIs >> for processing XML. XML is not a serialization format for SAX and >> DOM. Alternate representations of the Infoset are not XML. Alternate >> formats that expose a SAX or DOM API are not XML. > > > > That is a sensible position (and obviously shared by one of the > editors of the XML 1.0 spec), but it is not Revealed Truth. I, for > example, think of "XML" as the whole bloody mess -- syntax, data > models, APIs, query languages, whatnot. I agree that adding > additional qualifiers is the best way to be specific in a context that > requires a distinction, e.g. "XML 1.x syntax" or "XQuery data model." > I realize that some people are quite firmly of the opinion that "XML" > means "XML 1.x syntax", and that "binary XML" is an oxymoron. But > XQuery (explicitly) and DOM, XPath, etc.(implicitly) do not depend on > inputs in XML syntax. > > A religious debate over the true meaning of "XML" seems doomed to > cause far more schims within the XML community and confusion in the > world outside XML geekdom than any increase in semantic precision > would gain anyone. I'm comfortable saying that XML is sortof a > trinity -- "one technology in three persons" : syntax, data model, > manipulation language -- but recognize that these are essentially > vague and interdependent concepts that will probably never be > clarified to anyone's satisfaction. Likewise, there are alternatives > on any one axis so long as one doesn't get too far away from the > middle on all axes as once. A bit uncertain, perhaps, but such is life. > > In other words, IMHO "XML" is a fuzzy set, not an Aristotelian > category. Trying to define it or rigidly constrain it --"XML is not a > serialization format for SAX and DOM. Alternate representations of the > Infoset are not XML. Alternate formats that expose a SAX or DOM API > are not XML. " -- is an interesting academic (or mailing list) > exercise, but let's not get dogmatic about it ... and leave the > flamethrowers at home. > > [Aside, speakiing of a "trinity": The challenge of defining the > Trinity apparently keeps certain people occupied fighting the numerous > heresies still today. > http://apologetics.johndepoe.com/trinityfalse.html is the top Google > hit for "trinity heresies" and contains the fascinating tidbit that > those who believe that the Trinity is one Being in three persons are > orthodox, but those who believe that it is one person with three ways > of working are guilty of the Modalist heresy. I remember a college > history teacher who had a bit of fun tripping up the professed > Christians in the class with their inability to distinguish the > Revealed Truth from the various historical heresies. "Sorry, you > would have been burned at the stake for holding that opinion." I > wonder if the believers in the Revealed Truth in the class remember > that session as clearly as I do 30 years later... I certainly came > away with a lifelong non-interest in making rigid distinctions about > intrinsically fuzzy concepts] > > > ----------------------------------------------------------------- > 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://www.oasis-open.org/mlmanage/index.php> -- swilliams@h... http://www.hpti.com Per: sdw@l... http://sdw.st Stephen D. Williams 703-724-0118W 703-995-0407Fax 20147-4622 AIM: sdw begin:vcard fn:Stephen Williams n:Williams;Stephen email;internet:sdw@l... tel;work:703-724-0118 tel;fax:703-995-0407 tel;pager:sdwpage@l... tel;home:703-729-5405 tel;cell:703-371-9362 x-mozilla-html:TRUE version:2.1 end:vcard
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