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Re: ANN: a portable data component -- length

• From: Michael Kay <mike@saxonica.com>
• To: xml-dev@lists.xml.org
• Date: Mon, 11 Apr 2011 09:25:47 +0100

On 10/04/2011 06:23, Toby Considine wrote:
> Interesting question, and one that goes to the heart of some of my current
> obsessions...
>
> Is there a standard XSD of SI units for inclusion somewhere on the web
>
> And
>
> Is there a standard XSD of SI scale ( peta / tera / giga / mega/ ...) for
> inclusion anywhere on the web?

As you probably know given your affiliation, the decimal SI 
abbreviations (K, M, G etc, for 10^3, 10^6 etc) are defined in ISO 
1000:2004, and the binary prefixes (Ki, Mi, Gi, which we should use for 
2^10, 2^20 etc, but don't) are defined in ISO 80000-13:2008.

But I'm not aware of any standard that maps these into XSD types.

Michael Kay
Saxonica
>
> tc
>
>
>
> "He who fights with monsters should look to it that he himself does not
> become a monster, and if you stare long into an abyss, the abyss also stares
> into you."   - Fredrich Nietzche
>
> Toby Considine
> TC9, Inc
> TC Chair: oBIX&  WS-Calendar
> TC Editor: EMIX, EnergyInterop
> U.S. National Inst. of Standards and Tech. Smart Grid Architecture Committee
>
>    
> Email: Toby.Considine@gmail.com
> Phone: (919)619-2104
> http://www.tcnine.com/
> blog: www.NewDaedalus.com
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Liam R E Quin [mailto:liam@w3.org]
> Sent: Saturday, April 09, 2011 9:41 PM
> To: John Cowan
> Cc: Costello, Roger L.; xml-dev@lists.xml.org
> Subject: Re:  ANN: a portable data component -- length
>
> On Sat, 2011-04-09 at 15:55 -0400, John Cowan wrote:
>> Liam R E Quin scripsit:
>>
>>> (I'd use metric/SI units in a program as they're easier to deal
>>> with, and mixed-based ambiguity like 3 feet 7 inches doesn't occur)
>> If you want to represent measurements, as distinct from counts, you
>> need to provide the measurement in the units actually measured.
> +1 if they are actually being measured; one also has to give tolerance.
>
> On Pete Cordell's point, the name of the element - I used<measurement>
> rather than<distance>  for no good or bad reason - one can't know a priori
> whether the fact it's a measurement is more or less important than the fact
> it's a linear measurement through space, a distance. One is not
> intrinsically more "semantic" than the other.  But we can know that there's
> a common danger in using element names for field names that come from some
> non-XML source, as you might end up with non-XML chracters to deal with, or
> markup in the field name -- e.g. mathematical notation, or annotations
> (Japanese ruby comes to mind).
>
> Someone else said that Normal Form is no gold standard - it isn't, but the
> principle of not duplicating data still holds.  If Costelloitis takes hold,
> you should at least mark which of two values is primary and which was
> derived.
>
> <jug id="jug">
>    <capacity units="imperial_UK">4 gallons</capacity>
>    <capacity units="US" derivedfrom="imperial_UK">4.5 gallons</capacity>
>    <size>little</size>
>    <colour>brown</colour>
> </jug>
>
>
> --
> Liam Quin - XML Activity Lead, W3C, http://www.w3.org/People/Quin/ Pictures
> from old books: http://www.fromoldbooks.org/
>
>
>
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• Follow-Ups:
  • Re: ANN: a portable data component -- length
    • From: Stephen D Green <stephengreenubl@gmail.com>

• References:
  • ANN: a portable data component -- length
    • From: "Costello, Roger L." <costello@mitre.org>
  • Re: ANN: a portable data component -- length
    • From: Liam R E Quin <liam@w3.org>
  • Re: ANN: a portable data component -- length
    • From: John Cowan <cowan@mercury.ccil.org>
  • Re: ANN: a portable data component -- length
    • From: Liam R E Quin <liam@w3.org>
  • RE: ANN: a portable data component -- length
    • From: "Toby Considine" <Toby.Considine@gmail.com>