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Re: A generic approach to XML design versus a hardcodedapproac

• From: "Liam R. E. Quin" <liam@w3.org>
• To: "Costello, Roger L." <costello@mitre.org>, "xml-dev@l..." <xml-dev@l...>
• Date: Fri, 07 Oct 2016 15:46:54 -0400

On Fri, 2016-10-07 at 18:20 +0000, Costello, Roger L. wrote:
> Hi Folks,
> Compare these two designs for modeling an event occurring on March
> 21, 2012:
> <graduation date="2012-03-21"/>
> <event type="graduation" date="2012-03-21"/>
> The second design uses a "generic approach to XML design."

I gave a talk on this at SGML '96, in which I called the attrbute-based 
approach (often akin to an informal "folksonomy") "suggestive markup";
I proposed a hybrid approach in which you start with more generic
markup and add specialized elements as you gain a firmer understanding
of what you need.

The talk predated XML, XML Schema, Schematron and RNG, however, so that
validation of attributes wasn't practical.

Liam

• References:
  • A generic approach to XML design versus a hardcoded approach to XMLdesign
    • From: "Costello, Roger L." <costello@mitre.org>