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Re: Lessons learned from the XML experiment

• From: "Timothy W. Cook" <tim@mlhim.org>
• To: Michael Kay <mike@saxonica.com>
• Date: Fri, 15 Nov 2013 09:36:58 -0200

Hi Michael,

Thank you for addressing the issue.

Yes, I have been and often still am one of those asking questions on
SO. It is a great resource.

Of course namespaces gave me a HUGE! problem, initially.  It is fair
to say that I was confused for weeks.  Great tools available for XML
helps a lot though.

The problem with the complexity is that it is tackling a complex
problem.  "Make everything as simple as possible, but no simpler." -
Albert Einstein.

But the question is; Are namespaces in XML broken?

Thanks,
Tim


On Fri, Nov 15, 2013 at 9:08 AM, Michael Kay <mike@saxonica.com> wrote:
>
>> Okay, I see a lot of 'complaining' about namespaces, even from people
>> that apparently do not use them. I have yet to see any actually
>> problem that the current implementation can cause.
>>
>
> The primary problem is complexity. They add complexity to all the specifications in the XML family, they add to the cost of producing implementations, they add to the cost of learning the technologies, and they add myriad opportunities for doing things wrong.
>
> Do you follow StackOverflow? If you do, you will know how bewildered most newcomers to XML are by the complexities of namespaces. And it's not just newcomers; the amount of time W3C working groups spend on esoteric namespace-related corner cases is completely disproportionate.
>
> Michael Kay
> Saxonica
>



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• Follow-Ups:
  • Re: Lessons learned from the XML experiment
    • From: Michael Kay <mike@saxonica.com>

• References:
  • Lessons learned from the XML experiment
    • From: "Costello, Roger L." <costello@mitre.org>
  • Re: Lessons learned from the XML experiment
    • From: "Simon St.Laurent" <simonstl@simonstl.com>
  • Re: Lessons learned from the XML experiment
    • From: "Timothy W. Cook" <tim@mlhim.org>
  • Re: Lessons learned from the XML experiment
    • From: "Simon St.Laurent" <simonstl@simonstl.com>
  • Re: Lessons learned from the XML experiment
    • From: Michael Kay <mike@saxonica.com>
  • Re: Lessons learned from the XML experiment
    • From: Kurt Cagle <kurt.cagle@gmail.com>
  • Re: Lessons learned from the XML experiment
    • From: Kurt Cagle <kurt.cagle@gmail.com>
  • Re: Lessons learned from the XML experiment
    • From: Uche Ogbuji <uche@ogbuji.net>
  • Re: Lessons learned from the XML experiment
    • From: Kurt Cagle <kurt.cagle@gmail.com>
  • Re: Lessons learned from the XML experiment
    • From: Hans-Juergen Rennau <hrennau@yahoo.de>
  • Re: Lessons learned from the XML experiment
    • From: "Timothy W. Cook" <tim@mlhim.org>
  • Re: Lessons learned from the XML experiment
    • From: "Simon St.Laurent" <simonstl@simonstl.com>
  • Re: Lessons learned from the XML experiment
    • From: Kurt Cagle <kurt.cagle@gmail.com>
  • Re: Lessons learned from the XML experiment
    • From: "Timothy W. Cook" <tim@mlhim.org>
  • Re: Lessons learned from the XML experiment
    • From: Michael Kay <mike@saxonica.com>