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Re: Whither XML ?
- From: COUTHURES Alain <alain.couthures@agencexml.com>
- To: BillClare3@aol.com
- Date: Sun, 07 Nov 2010 08:11:41 +0100
bd7cd.bdec2ac.3a0719b8@aol.com" type="cite">
Clearly there are
issues of syntax simplification which can be addressed.
Yes, I already suggested some simplifications for XML 2.0 at
http://xmltoday.org/2010/11/options-for-xml-2-0/
bd7cd.bdec2ac.3a0719b8@aol.com" type="cite">
More
fundamental though are semantic issues.
The first insight
here is that XML standards generally support various
models, including models for other models.
Fundamental generic models to be supported with
broad and consistent capabilities are application models
for data( physical and logical views, metadata, etc.),
for presentation(HTML, Open office, SVG, CSS, etc.), for
communication and for control (data and work flow, state
machines, etc.). As with the
Model/View/Controller paradigm, these together can
provide a complete, unified and consistent framework for
application development.
That's what can be seen with XForms at
http://www.w3.org/TR/xforms11/ and my own implementation (XSLTForms:
http://www.agencexml.com/xsltforms) can also dynamically generate
SVG graphs from instance data.
Open Office documents are not pure XML ones but zipped files, some
of them being XML documents while others usually are binary ones. It
would be great if XML engines could natively deal with compressed
formats!
bd7cd.bdec2ac.3a0719b8@aol.com" type="cite">
The second insight
here that these models are based on a specification
language, rather than a procedural language, and that,
as a specification language there are considerable
improvements that can be made to XML fundamentals to
ease development and interactions among these and other
models. For instance it should
be possible to deal with schema, style sheets, metadata,
data content, etc. in a common and consistent way.
As for XForms again, forms can be generated from schemas. XSLT
stylesheets can also be used anywhere.
bd7cd.bdec2ac.3a0719b8@aol.com" type="cite">
Basically then this is a
recognition that what started as a “markup” language can
serve well as a “models” language.
The objective here
then is to create a complete and consistent
specification language that forms the basis for
developers to create executable application frameworks
based on generic models for data, presentation,
communication and processing. A
secondary objective is to create a base whereby it is
simpler to develop and adopt new standards.
XSLTForms allows to use standard browsers without plug-in but
security concerns don't allow to save files on local disk.
XSLTForms is based on an XSLT stylesheet to transform XForms
elements into HTML elements+Javascript. XSLT engines are fast and
browsers have one. XSLT can easily be used for prototyping new
standards and, for instance, I'm thinking about HTML5 elements
support in XSLTForms for allowing old browsers to render them.
For a full XML architecture, usually named XRX, XQuery and XProc can
be used too.
bd7cd.bdec2ac.3a0719b8@aol.com" type="cite">
In that this is
meant to be a somewhat revolutionary approach, a primary
concern is compatibility. This
needs to be addressed; for instance, with alternative
language processing and through extended and alternate
“infosets” which can be supported by a common agent.
XRX is a disruptive architecture and it's a problem for developers
being sure to be the best ones because they use one of Java,
Javascript, .Net, PHP, ... For instance, XSLTForms extensions can be
written in Javascript but with precautions for good interactions.
bd7cd.bdec2ac.3a0719b8@aol.com" type="cite">
Much of this is outlined
in more detailed documentation that is under development
and can be made available.
That's very interesting!
bd7cd.bdec2ac.3a0719b8@aol.com" type="cite">
This note is to
inquire if there is interest in the community in
pursuing such a fundamental look at approaches for the
further development of XML standards.
I'm
convinced that the community is more and more concerned.
Still not having powerful XML standards, such as XSLT 2.0,
implemented in browsers has been argued after W3C TPAC 2010
(http://saxonica.blogharbor.com/blog/_archives/2010/11/4/4671786.html).
More and more people are now perceiving something but still
few can see how important this can be.
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