RE: APIs, messaging

[Jeff Lowery <jlowery@scenicsoft.com>]

I would only give the added perspective that a data model, such as defined
by an XML Schema or SQL DDL, tends towards stability (the data model grows
[quickly], but the constraints, cardinalities, and types seem to stabilize
for those parts of the model that have been around for awhile). A lot of
APIs seem to outgrow their usefulness after  a few years in production.
Defining data models also tend to be more cut-and-dried than defining APIs,
which are more subjective.
 
My predilection for wanting subjective class hierarchies mapped to
relatively stable and objective data models seems to indicate that I've
settled in the second camp, below.

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Simon St.Laurent [mailto:simonstl@simonstl.com]
> Sent: Tuesday, May 22, 2001 10:30 AM
> To: xml-dev@lists.xml.org
> Subject: APIs, messaging
> 
> 
> After reading the last week or so of messages, I'm wondering 
> if maybe we're picking up on a division which is kind of but 
> not quite parallel to the documents vs. data division.
> 
> It seems like we have people who want to use XML the same way they've
> used data structures in programs, building tightly-defined 
> APIs to close
> tolerances the same way they've built programs for the last 
> few decades.
> APIs are built and documented and developers have to conform to the
> rules of the API to use them.
> 
> There's another group of people who want to use XML to get out of that
> world of close tolerances and into a much less precise approach where
> messages are exchanged and things may or may not happen 
> depending on the
> understandings of the sender and the receiver.  Message formats may or
> may not be documented and developers can use information for processes
> quite different from the original design.
> 
> Does that seem like a reasonable breakdown of the situation?
> 
> Simon St.Laurent
> XML: A Primer, 3rd Edition - just released!
> http://www.simonstl.com
> 
> 
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