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At 8:32 AM -0700 9/12/02, Dare Obasanjo wrote:
>How can an Application Programming Interface(API) be Open
>Source(tm)? I assume you mean that there should be at least one Open
>Source implementation of the API and not that the API should be Open
>Source, correct?
>
I'd have to check the open source definition, but the key is that
anyone should be able to freely implement it without paying
royalties, fees, etc. SAX, DOM, JDOM, and dom4j meet this test.
ElectricXML doesn't. And yes, there should be an open source
implementation of the API as well.
Hmm, I just checked the OSD, and I think an API absolutely can be
open source. In IDL or Java, an API is (or at least can be) code,
like any other code, and thus can be published under the GPL, LGPL,
BSD, Apache, artistic, etc. licenses.
--
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| Elliotte Rusty Harold | elharo@metalab.unc.edu | Writer/Programmer |
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| XML in a Nutshell, 2nd Edition (O'Reilly, 2002) |
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| http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN%3D0596002920/cafeaulaitA/ |
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