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On 8/5/02 8:04 AM, "Simon St.Laurent" <simonstl@simonstl.com> wrote:
> At 09:34 PM 8/4/2002 -0700, Micah Dubinko wrote:
>> An unpopular (but possible with current technology) answer is that the ° and
>> ' and " and even N|S|E|W stuff is window dressing, and that the actual value
>> is just a number:
>>
>> <zoo>
>> <name>Utica Zoo</name>
>> <lat>75.25</lat>
>> <long>43.08333333333333</long>
>> </zoo>
>
> No, that's not an acceptable answer. Part of the reason for using XML at
> all is the possibility and even probability that humans will be playing
> with these files directly and/or writing software, and preserving the
> idioms they use is critical.
I could have sworn that the idiom is actually more like:
75°15'00" N 43°05'00" W
And I've seen:
75 15 00N 43 05 00W
I'm pretty sure the idiom is *not*:
<lat>75°15'00" N</lat><long>43°05'00" W</long>
So. I don't think your's is an acceptable answer.
>
> Reductionism may be wonderful for computers, but it's not very useful for
> the rest of us. At least in theory, XML is supposed to provide a middle
> ground between human and machine-readable.
I'll pass on the 'reductionism' stuff.
There seems to me to be to be a difference of opinion of where the 'middle
ground' might be found. As far as I can see this 'middle ground' is likely
the place where the idiom stops and the markup begins.
Where *does* the idiom stop and markup begin, anyway? Is an invoice an
idiom? Is an integer an idiom? (1,000.00; 1.000,00; 1 000,00; etc) Dates?
Durations? Personal names? Addresses? Phone numbers?
How much of this is dealt with through rendering? Is <lat>75.25</lat> so bad
if we can render it as 75°15'00" N? Does this change the 'middle ground'
any?
How many idioms do we have to support anyway? Is XML supposed to achieve
some sort of interoperability you cannot achieve with, say, a gif? How? with
all these idioms?
I think this is an important question that people should attempt to answer,
and I don't think 'intuitively obvious' will form any part of a good answer.
While we are at it... What's the difference between what you are calling an
idiom and certain other people call a data type?
>
>
> Simon St.Laurent
> "Every day in every way I'm getting better and better." - Emile Coue
>
>
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