xml-dev - Re: DTD confusion (was Re: Lotsa laughs)

[David LeBlanc <whisper@accessone.com>]

Ok, now i'm confused David - your second statement seems to contradict your
first statement.

Dave LeBlanc

At 10:21 AM 5/28/99 -0400, you wrote:
>John Cowan writes:
>
> > Lisa Rein scripsit:
> > 
> > > I thought that an XML v. 1.0-compliant application needed to be
> > > definable using a DTD (at this point) -- even if you didn't necessarily
> > > write one up for it -- that it *should* be possible to do so for any XML
> > > v 1.0-compliant application syntax. (like SMIL etc.) Is this NOT
> > > correct?
> > 
> > That is not correct.  As long as the XML documents are well-formed,
> > it is perfectly fine for there to be no DTD that describes them
> > both.  Instead, you can use any of the schema proposals, or English
> > prose, or French alexandrines, or what you will....
>
>In fact, Lisa and John are both right, but they're slightly at
>cross-purposes:
>
>1. Any XML *document* that cannot be described by a DTD is not
>   well-formed (I challenge anyone on the list to give me an example
>   to the contrary).
>
>2. An XML *document type* may contain restraints or allow structures
>   that would be difficult or even impossible to model in a DTD.
>
>The XML document type describes the characteristics that group certain
>XML documents into a class -- these characteristics cannot always be
>described using a DTD, and, in fact, may make the writing of a general
>DTD for the whole class impossible.
>
>
>All the best,
>
>
>David
>
>-- 
>David Megginson                 david@megginson.com
>           http://www.megginson.com/
>
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