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>>We would all like these numbers. What percentage of XML is:
>>
>>- Hand-authored?
>>- Program-generated?
>>- Used for data exchange?
>>- Used to generate publications?
>>
>>Of the hand-authored XML, what percentage is written using tools that:
>>
>>- Expose POT (plain old text)?
>>- Edit only the infoset (like form editors)?
>>- Edit only the infoset plus entities (like WYSIWYG XHTML editors,
>>structure editors)?
While it would be interesting to know that, it's not particularly
important. Even if the percentage of documents that is hand-authored is
small, that's still a large percentage of the work we do. Computers can
be taught to handle the parts of XML needed for human use more easily
than humans can be taught to think in binary.
Taking away text XML and the pieces of XML intended to make human
authoring feasible is like welding shut the hood of a car. Sure, 99
times out of a 100 you can drive your car to the grocery store without
opening the hood. But the ability to open the hood when you need to is
necessary to avoid being a slave to a priesthood of mechanics with
special welding tools. We need to make it possible for humans to pop
open the hoods of their XML documents to perform routine maintenance
when necessary, without needing special tools and training.
--
Elliotte Rusty Harold elharo@metalab.unc.edu
XML in a Nutshell 3rd Edition Just Published!
http://www.cafeconleche.org/books/xian3/
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=0596007647/cafeaulaitA/ref=nosim
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