xml-dev - Re: SAX/C++ vs. SAX2

["Simon St.Laurent" <simonstl@simonstl.com>]

At 01:21 PM 12/3/99 -0500, David Megginson wrote:
>I'd like to hear what others think on this issue.  There was some
>interest in SAX2 when I posted my alpha interfaces a few months back
>(most notably, but not exclusively, from David Brownell), but it was
>hardly a tidal wave.  On the other hand, I am noticing a building
>pressure from implementors to get something out in C++.

As interested as I am in seeing SAX2 emerge (see below), I'll admit that
getting SAX out in C++ is probably more immediately important.  I avoid C++
and C completely, but I get lots of queries about XML for C/C++/COM other
than IE 5.

>I can think of a few reasons that the world might desperately be
>waiting for SAX2:
>
>1. To get some kind of standard Namespace support (or at least a way
>   to tell whether a parser has Namespace support built in).
>
>2. To query parser features in general.
>
>3. To get at the stuff that SAX 1.0 doesn't report, like comments,
>   CDATA boundaries, and DTD declarations.

I think #1 is very important, but #2 makes both #1 and #3 much easier.
Those who neither need nor want namespaces may still want other features,
and need to make the queries, and once that query process is in place it's
easy to define numbers 1 and 3 as 'optional parser features'.

I was pretty pleased with the SAX2 Alpha, and think it may provide enough
of #2 that maybe #1 and #3 could be carried out as separate (but
affiliated) efforts.

Now that I'm nearly done refinishing my floors, I'm hoping to have more
time to devote to proposals like this again.  But first I have to go to
Philadelphia for that XML '99 thing.  I'd love to talk with anyone who's
interested about SAX futures there.  Meet at the bar, any bar I guess.

Simon St.Laurent
XML: A Primer, 2nd Ed.
Building XML Applications
Inside XML DTDs: Scientific and Technical
Sharing Bandwidth / Cookies
http://www.simonstl.com

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