OASIS Mailing List ArchivesView the OASIS mailing list archive below
or browse/search using MarkMail.

 


Help: OASIS Mailing Lists Help | MarkMail Help

 


 

   RE: Musing over Namespaces

[ Lists Home | Date Index | Thread Index ]
  • From: Bill dehOra <Wdehora@cromwellmedia.co.uk>
  • To: xml-dev@ic.ac.uk
  • Date: Wed, 15 Dec 1999 09:16:28 -0000

 
   :  I started with the question: "Why isn't there namespaces
   :  in normal languages like English?"  A boring and divergent
   :  question.

I assume you mean 'natural languages'? Namespaces in natural languages would
be something like jargon, dialects or even idiolects.

   :  My answer was: massive fragmentation of society.
  
Like it's not fragged already.

   :  Is it really a 'good thing' to have namespaces in XML?  What
   :  ill effect will it have on XML's future?  Why can't the
   :  semantic of '<name>' be determined purely by context?  What
   :  is wrong with using just <html> to distinguish HTML's use of
   :  'a' tag?  Is the ability to inject attributes from other
   :  namespaces really useful?  What is the possitive effect of
   :  having just one namespace?  Why can't we have central
   :  registry of XML names? 

The semantics of <name> can't be determined by context because at the
moment, computers aren't good at context (that's why we do it for them by
giving them artificial namespaces). You can of course get a person to read
the mark-up and apply context to it.

As for a central registry, things like namespaces are perhaps best left to
evolve openly.


Regards,

Bill de hOra 

xml-dev: A list for W3C XML Developers. To post, mailto:xml-dev@ic.ac.uk
Archived as: http://www.lists.ic.ac.uk/hypermail/xml-dev/ and on CD-ROM/ISBN 981-02-3594-1
To unsubscribe, mailto:majordomo@ic.ac.uk the following message;
unsubscribe xml-dev
To subscribe to the digests, mailto:majordomo@ic.ac.uk the following message;
subscribe xml-dev-digest
List coordinator, Henry Rzepa (mailto:rzepa@ic.ac.uk)






 

News | XML in Industry | Calendar | XML Registry
Marketplace | Resources | MyXML.org | Sponsors | Privacy Statement

Copyright 2001 XML.org. This site is hosted by OASIS