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Inasmuch as I do find the way Mr. Clark's name is bandied about in the
markup community somewhat distasteful I will limit myself to two
observations upon the reference.
I had in mind another contributor to XSL, an acquaintance, a developer's
developer who participated briefly with me in sustaining Datalogics'
hideous existence beyond the grave at a particular company. It would be
interesting to know but fairly impossible to determine under which of
their many hats their greatest contribution to the success of FO had been
conceived. The absurd question is neither here nor there as they are both
well versed in the use and abuse of markup and, to paraphrase Gilbert and
Sullivan:
...the very model of the subject matter expert.
I unflaggingly maintain that programmers are not incapable of quality
markup definition.
I stated that programmers are responsible for the worst of markup. This
does not preclude the possibility that they are also responsible for the
best. This stands to reason as they are responsible for the preponderance
of markup definitions today. I only observe that when one comes upon a
particularly bad piece of work one is likely to find a programmer, but let
us depersonalize somewhat, a programmer's perspective, at the source of
it. Whether this be consequent to their lack of exposure to the art, the
exigencies of the Gantt chart, or due merely to strength of numbers now
the task has been thanklessly thrust upon them, it is felt throughout the
toolchain.
The political question has no bearing upon the techniques.
I have no interest in provoking knife fights, no desire to advocate
returning to a mythic gilded age of SGML, no interest in flashing
chauvinist attitudes here or in any other forum.
I am here to play the gadfly. I do intend to give voice to a
disenfranchised group, to make a few observations and ask a few questions
pertaining to XML as it is practiced in the streets and on the barricades.
I have come all this way from the front, my generals. Bring me up for
insubordination if you must, but I will be heard.
I will treat the violence with which I was misunderstood to be an
invitation to expand my concerns under another subject heading. My issues
are not Mr. St. Laurent's though the breadth of his critique probably laps
mine.
with all due respect,
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Mike Haarman
mhaarma@socsci.umn.edu
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