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Nice. The complaint about DTDs from the XML mavens
was that it used a different syntax and was too
difficult to read. The response from the SGMLers
was that it made it easier to read and distinguish
from the markup instance. The VRML designers
created a language that was terse, easy to read
and type, and essentially the syntax that is
rnc. The XMLers and HTMLers looked at it and
said that the syntax wasn't 'pointy' so it
couldn't use the XML toolsets. The infoset people
knew that the abstract model of a real time
scene graph was 'mismatched' to the infoset model.
Now we are asked to accept that 'syntax' is fundamental
to the web architecture although the existence proof
of X3D, a standard with a single abstract model and
multiple encodings (pointy, curly, and binary real
soon now), is there to show it isn't.
For those who think 'trendiness' and technical
politics aren't driving the perception and architectures
of the web, keep these examples in mind, and keep
your coding pads close to hand. Different strokes.
Don't let them shout down your good ideas. Show 'em
the running code, just after you get your successful
patent application back.
len
From: J. David Eisenberg [mailto:catcode@catcode.com]
> For now, I want to see why people here seem to believe that it (rnc) is
> far superior.
From the experience of the people in my introductory XML class, they like
the compact syntax because it's easier to read and less to type. Also, it
does not look like XML, so there is no confusion about which one is the
target document and which one is the grammar. Personally, I am more used
to the XML syntax of Relax NG, so I am stil doing a mental translation
from XML when I write the compact syntax.
The class hasn't done XML Schema, but I have given them dire warnings
about it, so their further experiences are going to be skewed.
I am in the "is this document valid" camp, not the "what data types does
this document contain" crowd. Thus, my reaction to XML Schema is to flee,
shrieking. Even easy things seem to be complicated with XSD. Consider the
simple example (shown at
http://relaxng.org/pipermail/relaxng-user/2003-October/000079.html) which
I have used when teaching Relax NG. I just could *not* get it to work in
Schema.
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