xml-dev - RE: Why the Infoset?

["Bullard, Claude L (Len)" <clbullar@ingr.com>]

I would suggest that most of us participating 
in this thread may be outsiders with respect 
to the invention of groves.  There was not 
an assumption.  The statement was clear: "

""Groves are the greatest thing I've
 never seen or completely understood."

with the possible exception of Architectural Forms."

Since the needs are not yet defined, that 
is a hard determination to validate.

The work invested in groves by others 
seems to indicate they may be appropriate 
for defining subsets.  That is what grove plans 
are designed for with respect to markup 
technology.  What is different in this instance?  John 
Cowan has already made a good stab at showing 
the difficulty of creating an exhaustive 
definition.  He has also stated that a grove 
plan would be welcomed as a non-normative 
appendix.  That is a progress via one path. 
What are the alternatives and how are they 
superior to the one that the editor of the 
specification in question says is acceptable?

Len Bullard
Intergraph Public Safety
clbullar@ingr.com
http://fly.hiwaay.net/~cbullard/lensongs.ram

Ekam sat.h, Vipraah bahudhaa vadanti.
Daamyata. Datta. Dayadhvam.h


-----Original Message-----
From: Simon St.Laurent [mailto:simonstl@simonstl.com]


I think you're making some assumptions here about the amount of time and
research that has been invested by 'outsiders' in investigating both groves
and architectural forms.  Those assumptions may not hold up under scrutiny.

A lot of folks on this list (myself included) have spent more time than
we'd like boning up on these very topics, and not received a whole lot of
return on our investments.  (It's definitely helped me follow XML-Dev,
though.)

Both specs inform my work, but I don't regard either of them as a natural
or appropriate fit to XML.

It's not that we don't appreciate the work done by those who have come
before, it's that we don't always find that work appropriate to the needs
we have at present.

It's NAH - Not Appropriate Here - not just NIH.

Simon St.Laurent
XML Elements of Style / XML: A Primer, 2nd Ed.
http://www.simonstl.com - XML essays and books