Re: What is an XML document?

[Bob DuCharme <bob@udico.com>]

Jeff Lansing wrote:

>> I think the SGML spec's definition has held up pretty well over the
years:
>> "a collection of information that is processed as a unit." (ISO 8879
4.96)

>This definition seems to me to be a bit overproductive. Wouldn't it also
apply
>to a photograph, for example?

The meaning of "process," as with "document" or "information," can be
considered in broader or narrower senses to cover wider or narrower domains,
but if we read it in the sense of  "data processing" I think the SGML
definition for "document" still works fine. It also helps photographs to fit
in better--a photograph that can be processed as data can easily be part of
a document. The processing by the corner camera store of the film from my
camera is outside of the data processing domain.

Bob DuCharme          www.snee.com/bob           <bob@
snee.com>  "The elements be kind to thee, and make thy
spirits all of comfort!" Anthony and Cleopatra, III ii