xml-dev - idea about how to make everyone happy

[Richard Goerwitz <richard@goon.stg.brown.edu>]

Richard L. Goerwitz III wrote:
> 
> > Q:  "Why not associate namespaces optionally with DTDs (not necessarily
> > via the name-space URI)?"

Expanding a bit, for those who wish SGML and DTDs would die, here's
an idea that would keep you guys from totally pissing the SGMLers
off, and vice versa:

  1) associate schemas optionally with namespaces
  2) make sure there is a mechanism for identifying the schema type
     (e.g., a DTD) that's being associated with a given namespace
  3) bring back the PI syntax - or find some other way to tell the
     processor about what schemas it'll need to process in conjunction
     with what prefixes _before_ it starts parsing the document

Upshot: Those of you who wish SGML would just die (and along with it,
DTDs), you can have your cake and eat it, too.  Just put your top-
level element into a namespace, associate it with your schema, and
skip the DTD (or put in an empty one).

Note that this in no way prevents anyone from using the SGML DTD
mechanism - or from distributing validation across several different
DTDs (both the main one and ones associated with namespaces).  So
nobody is going to get lynched for killing SGML or DTDs.

It might even be possible to use the DTD, but to validate portions
of the document according to other schema types.

What I'm really trying to say here is that if we put aside the ani-
mosities for a second and think, we can figure out a way to work
everything out.  There are too many smart people running around
here for me to be willing to give up just yet.

-- 

Richard Goerwitz
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