xml-dev - Re: Architectural Forms and XAF

["Wang,David" <dwang@mitre.org>]

> * The current XLink spec, as revised, is very, very close to being an
>   inheritable architecture.  In fact, I can't think of any way it's

Yes, except I believe XLink can be out-of-line whereas AFs have to be
in-line, usually hidden inside one of the DTDs that are linked.  I think the
separation that XLink provides between the elements that are associated and
the actual description and enunciation of the association makes it a
worthwhile improvement.

> * The Topic Maps spec, which seems to be newsworthy these days, is an
>   inheritable architecture.  It's good that XLink has turned out to be
>   a set of architectural forms, because XML Topic Maps (among many
>   other applications) must inherit the extended XLink syntax and
>   semantics.
Where can find out more about Topic Maps?  It sounds like something that is
trying to map objects according to semantics...

... because I'm an interested party in figuring out how to draw
associations, either semantic or otherwise, between two or more resources.
I see the XLink spec as something that takes a great stride toward enabling
the formalization of relationships between resources, and I'd love to be
able to plug into any movements on this front.  Any pointers?

I'm also wondering if there are beta-APIs for dealing with XLink (preferably
in Java).  I see no reason why it can't be done since an XLink linkbase is
just another XML document that can already be parsed and structured... so
perhaps it can be plugged somewhere in DOM or SAX?

/David


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