RE: Getting The Pizza (Was Processing 'my' XML (was Re: Why Mode l Concepts?))

["Simon St.Laurent" <simonstl@simonstl.com>]

At 01:21 PM 2/14/01 -0600, Bullard, Claude L (Len) wrote:
>Exactly.  So, when do we want to [model concepts]?

I don't want to model them.

I tend to think that concepts grow from ugly little larval experiences, 
which sometimes survive to wrap themselves in a chrysalis and emerge as a 
beautiful butterfly.

You can model butterflies in clay or glass, but then you've just got a clay 
or glass butterfly.  You can tell me that it's a real butterfly, but I can 
disagree with that easily.  You can also collect and categorize 
butterflies, putting them in neat glass boxes, but then you've got a bunch 
of dead butterflies.

Sometimes it's better to let the butterflies thrive than to stamp your own 
order on them.

(See what happens to me when I'm reviewing chapters about XML Query?)


Simon St.Laurent - Associate Editor, O'Reilly and Associates
XML Elements of Style / XML: A Primer, 2nd Ed.
XHTML: Migrating Toward XML
http://www.simonstl.com - XML essays and books