xml-dev - Re: DTD invented by Microsoft?!

[len bullard <cbullard@hiwaay.net>]

akirkpatrick@ims-global.com wrote:
> 
> The following extract is from the MS white paper on XML. Are they
> describing
> what we all understand as the DTD here or is it something else? If the
> former,
> what are Microsoft doing taking credit for it, I wonder...
> 
> > Microsoft has proposed a "Document Type Definition" (DTD) syntax for
> expressing the schema for an > XML document directly within XML itself,
> allowing XML data to describe its own structure. Expressing > schemata
> within XML adds great power to the XML format because it makes it
> possible for software
> > examining certain data to understand its structure without earlier
> knowledge about the data or its
> > meaning.
> 
> The section on white-space also seems oversimplified at best.
> 
> BTW: I don't have anything against Microsoft, even if their developments
> do seem to be all over the place at the moment.

This appears to be the long awaited and somewhat dreaded 
attempt to use instance syntax for type definitions.  It 
is an idea that has been floated several times on the 
XML WG list and generally resisted.

It is a bad idea and may be the reason SGML community 
members finally withdraw from XML development.

len

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