xml-dev - Re: Another Question

[Olivier DUBUISSON <Olivier.Dubuisson@francetelecom.fr>]

John F. Schlesinger wrote:
> 
> Mike Kay wrote:
> "Think OSI 7-layer model. XML is layer 6, adxml is layer 7."
> 
> I agree with Mike (I'm enjoying your XSL book by the way) that XML is a
> layer 6 (presentation) kind of thing. So are BNF and ASN-1.

Encodings associated to ASN.1 are on layer 6 (BER is the oldest one, but 
there are the packed encoding rules, PER, that are much more
interesting).

> That raises the
> question, why is XML better than ASN-1 or BNF?

Or, the other way round, why is ASN.1 better than XML? (Your question
seems a bit biased ;-)
Or more precisely: why is BER better than XML (they can be compared
because they are both on the same layer)?
Or why is ASN.1 better than XML Schemas? (these two can be compared
because they allow the definition of datatypes.)

Later: I agree with your "preferred for some applications" that you
propose in a later email.

If people are interesting, I'm open to discuss the point directly
with them. I don't want to set up a war on this list: the answer I
usually get when I try to explain to people that they confuse ASN.1
and its encodings is: "this is a religious war" :-(

BTW it is a dot in ASN.1, not a dash.
-- 
Olivier DUBUISSON
france telecom R&D
     _                 DTL/MSV - 22307 Lannion Cedex - France
    ( )           tel: +33 2 96 05 38 50 - fax: +33 2 96 05 39 45
    / \/               --------------------------------------
    \_/\               Site ASN.1 : http://asn1.elibel.tm.fr/

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