Re: [xml-dev] Re: determining ID-ness in XML

[Gavin Thomas Nicol <gtn@rbii.com>]

On Saturday 10 November 2001 08:29 pm, Elliotte Rusty Harold wrote:

> All that's proposed here is defining an XML application to allow
> elements to be named so we can address them by name. Like XLink, this
> would probably be an attribute based syntax that layers cleanly on
> top of existing XML applications. In fact, depending on what's
> decided this naming scheme might even be XLink. And like XLink, it's
> totally optional. If it seems useful to you, use it. Otherwise ignore
> it. However, since there are a lot of people who would like to do
> this, it seems useful to have a standard means of providing this
> functionality rather than reinventing it in a dozen mutually
> incompatible ways.

I don't see the value in it. At the end of the day the 
interpretation/semantics/identity of an element or attribute are entirely in 
the hands of the receiving application. In most applications, if you can 
address via an ID, the "ID" part is far less relevant than the unique 
attribute values: you can link just as effectively even if the application is 
ignorant of the "ID-ness".

Addressing via id's is one of the most fragile forms anyway... no point is 
special casing it.