Re: How could SGML help? (was RE: Blueberry/Unicode/XML)

[Marcus Carr <mrc@allette.com.au>]

John Cowan wrote:

> The default default SGML declaration, used if the parser has no
> other clue, basically specifies the XML syntax with a few exceptions.
> The default at the end of a PI is just ">" rather than "?>", and
> only ASCII characters are allowed in names.
>
> The designers of XML decided to sacrifice all this seldom-used
> flexibility in favor of a single syntax, spelled out in the
> XML Recommendation.  In order to change the syntax, therefore,
> we have to change the definition of XML.

It's worth pointing out that in SGML currently, it is possible to redefine
what constitutes a name without messing with the delimiter syntax - they are
separate sections. [John didn't ever say otherwise, but the mentions of the
delimiter syntax may have inadvertantly lead some to believe that they were
linked somehow.]


--
Regards,

Marcus Carr                      email:  mrc@allette.com.au
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Allette Systems (Australia)      www:    http://www.allette.com.au
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"Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler."
       - Einstein