xml-dev - Re: XML Schema in Z ?

[Rick JELLIFFE <ricko@geotempo.com>]

Joe English wrote:
> 
> Robert Worden  wrote:
> 
> > A suggestion: in parallel with anything else you do, re-express the Schema
> > spec in a  mathematical specification language such as VDM or Z. Publish a
> > mathematically annotated  version of the spec.
> 
> Or, use techniques from denotational semantics
> like Phil Wadler did for early drafts of XPath and
> XSL [1,2].
 
If anyone cares to develop formal models of XML Schemas using algebraic
notations
that have good academic credibility, then I am sure the XML Schema WG
will be very
interested in them: for example, they could at least be linked to from
the 
W3C XML Schema home page. The idea of formal models annotating the
normative
spec is very appealing: it sounds pretty workable since the normative
status
of each is kept clear.

One step beyond that, may I make the offer that Academia Sinica will be
happy
to submit or co-submit these to W3C as Notes (acceptence by W3C is not
guaranteed,
they have to process them according to their own resources): the proviso
would be that if you provide such a formal model you should also provide
some peer review to attest to 
how well the model captures the XML Schema spec?


Rick Jelliffe
Academia Sinica Computing Centre
Taipei, Taiwan