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>> So, I think I'm with Joe: Documents shouldn't specify how they are to
>> be used, they should be embedded in a process that specifies how
>> specific documents are to be used.
>What's interesting to me about this discussion is the separation of the
>information in the XML document from the processing it will receive.
>Although the creators and senders of that document may have their own
>expectations about how that document will be processed, there is
nothing
>intrinsic to the XML which binds it to particular processing.
I would normally agree about this but I've recently been working on
something that will be released in the next month or so, that while it
has the possibility of having processing completely separate from the
document also has some parts of the processing definable inline. I
implemented the inline processing because of a definite lack in the
system, other solutions would no doubt have been possible because I
believe there is always another solution, but the environmental
conditions expected for the project, the technical level of users, and
demands on the project's capacity meant that some sort user-defined
inline processing had to be allowed. That said although the project does
allow for inline processing there is certainly nothing "intrinsic to the
xml which binds it to particular processing".
To me, any statement that something should not be done(even though it is
well within technical capabilities to do it) smacks of religiosity. I am
of course devout, but not above sneaking behind the pews for a quick bit
of inline processing if I feel it absolutely necessary to the goal at
hand.
>Instead, some organizations seem to be piling as much
>baggage as possible into the understanding of the document and using
>that as a foundation for building processors.
>Embedding markup in documents is already adding a lot of information
>that might from some perspectives better considered separate from the
>document. Piling metadata on that embedded markup seems to give us the
>worst of both worlds: embedded markup and separate metadata. We're in
>serious danger of losing our balance as we pile ever more expectations
>into documents.
As a philosophical thing, what kinds of embedded markup do you often see
in documents that YOU would consider better separated from the document?
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