[XML-DEV Mailing List Archive Home] [By Thread] [By Date] [Recent Entries] [Reply To This Message] Re: "XML is just syntax" versus "Use semantic markup" (Is this
On Mon, Mar 10, 2008 at 7:48 AM, Rick Jelliffe <rjelliffe@a...> wrote: > All computers can do is play with symbols: labels and pointers. > > XML is just a syntax for annotating strings with labels and pointers. It > may even be that successful systems try to defer or avoid or hide issues > of semantics as much as possible: some data with a highly specific > semantic is just sent as a string, or as a number. Rather than saying > "how can we clarify the semantics of this data" sometimes you need to > say "how can we neutralize the semantic problems with this data?" what I get from this is 'applying semantics late is best practice' is, for me, a really wonderful (and easy to remember) insight . somewhat related: I had a discussion with a math professor friend, who found it amusing to embed meaning into symbol/tags (he has the same bemusement to variable/constant names in programs). Of course, he agrees that names/symbols/labels are useful as unique identifiers and to imply relationships (esp with operators and other symbols); but he iterated that the language which describes his mathematical theories should always be completely de-coupled from the theory itself (whereby we went on discuss turing machines, and all manner of problems). I argued that many times the boundaries of physics and math were pushed forward when new 'languages' (with its symbols) were developed to comprehend/explain phenomena. I then went on to explain to him that most people are inextricably linked to the language they speak .... the analogy I used was that a lot of perl programmers would find it difficult to use the perl Lingua::Romana::Perligata module, which oddly enough lets one program perl in latin of all things; http://search.cpan.org/~dconway/Lingua-Romana-Perligata-0.50/lib/Lingua/Romana/Perligata.pm (note there are folks doing perl in klingon as well). I then started to explain that he is right, as most coding 'anything' at some point gets converted to a set of arcane symbols that no one natively understands (or very few of us mere mortals) so in theory he is correct. The point that I got out of this discussion was that things like XML (with the potential to embed 'tactical semantics' in what is essentially just a syntax of angle brackets) was a *good* thing as it fundamentally broadened the base of users interacting and creating datasets; instead of leaving it to the math professors to have all the fun ;) cheers, Jim Fuller
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