More RDDL packaging was: Re: [xml-dev] Interoperability

["Jonathan Borden" <jborden@mediaone.net>]

Rick Jelliffe wrote:

I support RDDL just as much as anyone (indeed I have three
RDDL pages for my little languages Schematron, Hook and Connect)
but it does not answer the problem here.  RDDL answers the
question "what is at the other end of the namespace URI?"
with the answer "a standard assortment of resources provided by
the controller of the namespace."

The question DZIP answers is "How can we make it convenient
to deploy XML?"

<jb> (for some reason my emailer does not auto "<" your message?)

Take a look at the RDDLClassLoader class in the java API section. This
demonstrates the ability to locate and activate code that has a particular
purpose and nature as identified in a RDDL directory. The key point isn't
that the resource be located somewhere across the world and retrieved by a
network, rather that the resource is _identified_ by its characteristics
(nature,purpose). So for example you might provide code for XSLT extensions
written in:

1) java for use by Saxon
2) java for use by Xalan-J
3) C++ for use by Xalan-C
4) C## for use by IE/MSXML

Your 'namespace' defines the _same API_ (this is the _purpose_ of the code).
The _nature_ of each piece of code may be the language it is written in or
the system it is designed for.

This has nothing particular to do with the HTTP or FTP protocol.

Jonathan
</jb>