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Original Message From: "Michael Kay" > So we might have > > { authors: [ > {name: "Michael Kay", affiliation: "Saxonica"}, > {name: "Liam Quin", affiliation: "W3C"} > ] > abstract: <para { style : "bold" }>Here be some dragons</para> > content: <section { numbers : [1,1,2] }><para>...</para></section> > } I like the direction of this. I see a slight problem when you don't want your marked up text to start with markup. i.e. you want: abstract: Here be <em>some</em> dragons Maybe you have to do: abstract: <Here be <em>some</em> dragons> and: abstract: <<para { style : "bold" }>Here be some dragons</para>> such that '<' denotes the start of a special kind of construct in the same way that '{', '[', and '"' denote the start of special kinds of construct. Also, I don't think you need the object markers around the 'attributes'. e.g. you could simply do: abstract: <<para author: { GivenName: "Michael", FamilyName: "Kay", FavouriteQuote: <XSLT <em>Rocks</em>> }, affiliation: "Saxonica">Here be some dragons</para>> i.e. it's implicit that a marked up text type has an optional object in it. That said, not needing them is not a reason for not having them. I don't think the commas are needed either. They just make it look 'pretty'! Pete Cordell Codalogic Ltd Interface XML to C++ the easy way using C++ XML data binding to convert XSD schemas to C++ classes. Visit http://codalogic.com/lmx/ or http://www.xml2cpp.com for more info Original Message From: "Michael Kay" > > On 14/02/2011 18:03, Liam R E Quin wrote: >> I spent some time this weekend wondering how minimal one could make XML >> and still have something useful. Then, like almost everyone else, >> speculated on some random changes. >> >> http://www.barefootliam.org/xml/20110212-xml-redux >> >> (comments there are moderated to prevent spam, but should show up >> eventually) >> >> Liam >> >> > I'm inclined to be much more radical. There's no benefit in making > incremental improvements that cause a lot of disruption; the world will > stick with XML as it is today unless something radically better comes > along. For some applications where XML has been exploited over the last > ten years, JSON is radically better; for other applications, it's > hopeless. Let's rethink from the ground up, learning from what has gone > before in other traditions as well as our own. > > Angle brackets aren't a good way to handle structured data. It's not just > the end tags that are redundant; there's usually no need to have separate > names for a collection and its members, and there's no need to name each > member of a homogeneous collection. They were invented for textual markup; > let's stop trying to use them for other purposes. > > What data structures do we need? Basically those in JSON, plus structured > text. > > * Maps (key - value pairs) > > * Sequences of values > > * Strings, numbers, booleans > > * Text elements > > For syntax, extend JSON with one additional kind of value - the text > element - which looks like an XML element today, except that the > attributes are replaced by a property of an element called its metadata > which may be any of the above kind of values - most often a map, but not > restricted. > > So we might have > > { authors: [ > {name: "Michael Kay", affiliation: "Saxonica"}, > {name: "Liam Quin", affiliation: "W3C"} > ] > abstract: <para { style : "bold" }>Here be some dragons</para> > content: <section { numbers : [1,1,2] }><para>...</para></section> > } > > This uses the tagging syntax where it was designed to be used, for textual > markup; it uses notations designed for structured data when we want to > hold structured data; and it gives full composability between the two - > including of course elements within the metadata of another element. > > Michael Kay > Saxonica > > > > _______________________________________________________________________ > > XML-DEV is a publicly archived, unmoderated list hosted by OASIS > to support XML implementation and development. To minimize > spam in the archives, you must subscribe before posting. > > [Un]Subscribe/change address: http://www.oasis-open.org/mlmanage/ > Or unsubscribe: xml-dev-unsubscribe@lists.xml.org > subscribe: xml-dev-subscribe@lists.xml.org > List archive: http://lists.xml.org/archives/xml-dev/ > List Guidelines: http://www.oasis-open.org/maillists/guidelines.php > >
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