xml-dev - Re: Some questions

[David Megginson <david@megginson.com>]

Joe Lapp <jlapp@webMethods.com> writes:

> Hi Eve!  Actually, I've brought a similar issue up with RDF group members
> on a few occasions.  I've asked for help understanding why I'd choose the
> RDF syntax instead of inventing my own XML document type to represent the
> desired metadata.

The answer is the same as the answer to why you wouldn't invent your
own markup language rather than XML -- that there is a network effect
to using the same format as other people.  In the case of RDF, it is a 
lot easier to do something like

  RDFCollection coll = new RDFCollection("http://www.foo.com/data.rdf");
  RDFResource res = coll.getResource("http://www.foo.com/ids/00001");
  System.out.println("The name is " + 
                     res.getProperty("http://www.foo.com/ns#name"));

than it is to set up a SAX handler or walk through a DOM tree to try
to get the information -- if RDF (or something like it) catches on,
presumably we'll also get visual modelling tools, SQL-mapping tools,
forms-generators, and lots of other nice COTS stuff that it's hard to
write for XML in the general case.  There are two catches, however:

a) a lot of people have to use the same standard; and
b) there has to be a good software base.

RDF hasn't fully met either criterion yet, though there's some
improvement.


All the best,


David

-- 
David Megginson                 david@megginson.com
           http://www.megginson.com/

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