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----- Original Message -----
From: "Bullard, Claude L (Len)" <clbullar@ingr.com>
To: "'Nicolas Lehuen'" <nicolas.lehuen@ubicco.com>; "'Jeff Lowery'"
<jlowery@scenicsoft.com>
Cc: <xml-dev@lists.xml.org>
Sent: Thursday, January 24, 2002 10:16 PM
Subject: RE: [xml-dev] There is a meaning, but it's not in the data alone
> Again, what is the difference in an arch form and a
> pile 'o attributes on the root?
>
> len
Maybe the pile of attributes, though crappy, can give more meta-data about
an element than the architectural form ? Unless, of course, you have a
standard way to bind an architecture and its architectural form to other
types of meta-data than "just" DTDs. That would be great. That's why we want
to be able to bind document types to meta-data resource directories.
Beginner's question : what is the difference between an architecture and a
namespace ? Is it that architectures have a meaning (i.e. meta-DTDs and
possibility to write code that process the AF following these meta-DTDs) and
allow renaming, whereas namespaces are just sets of names ? Is all the
discussion about namespaces due to the fact that for many, namespaces should
have the same meaning as architectures (i.e. contain meta-schemas and allow
element and attribute renaming) ?
Disclaimer : I just read David Megginson's documentation of XAF [1], which
implements a subset of AFs for XML. I'll try to read [2] in the future,
especially for the meta-DTD part, but right now my brains just melt at the
idea of reading a document which calls its sections 'subclauses'. Apparently
those people like giving complex names to trivial concepts :P.
Yes, I know, Architectural Forms vs namespaces have already been debated on
this list, before namespaces where adopted, as early as in 1997 [3]. So now
that namespaces are there, what can we learn from AF ?
I begin to understand your question "Why is this debate still being held
every year?". It seems that everything has already been said and done, so
why should you care ? Well, I may have an answer that may give you some hope
: it's because some of us are here to learn, and you can teach us :) !
[1] http://www.megginson.com/XAF/
[2] http://www.ornl.gov/sgml/wg8/docs/n1920/html/clause-A.1.html
[3] http://lists.xml.org/archives/xml-dev/199705/msg00076.html
Regards,
Nicolas
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