Re: [xml-dev] The triples datamodel -- was Re: [xml-dev] Semantic Web permathread, iteration n+1

[Elliotte Rusty Harold <elharo@metalab.unc.edu>]

At 3:09 PM -0500 6/6/04, Bob Foster wrote:
>Elliotte Rusty Harold wrote:
>>>  I think the SGML world got it right on this one.
>>  As proven by the massive success of SGML, and the complete failure 
>>of XML. :-)
>
>So your view is that XML is successful because XML documents can 
>contain any old slop? Slop is good?

XML is successful because XML documents can contain what they need to 
contain. They don't have to put slop in just because the schema says 
slop is required. Nor do they have to leave important information out 
just because the schema says they can't contain it. Blind faith in a 
schema is a major source of slop.

>That must come as a surprise to the readers who have consulted your 
>many books to find out the ins and outs of DTDs and schemas and how 
>to use them sensibly. What a waste of time, eh?

Using them sensibly involves not adhering to them slavishly. I don't 
think that will surprise anyone who's read Effective XML. Some of my 
earlier books did regrettably build on faulty assumptions about how 
useful validation was and in what circumstances. At one point I was 
working from the same unexamined assumptions as many developers here. 
But I think most of those mistakes have been corrected in the most 
recent editions.
-- 

   Elliotte Rusty Harold
   elharo@metalab.unc.edu
   Effective XML (Addison-Wesley, 2003)
   http://www.cafeconleche.org/books/effectivexml
   http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN%3D0321150406/ref%3Dnosim/cafeaulaitA