RE: [xml-dev] Better design: "flatter is better" or "nesting is better" ?

["Costello, Roger L." <costello@mitre.org>]

Hi Folks,

 

[Thanks Len, you beat me to the mark.]

 

Peter, you make a good point, an XML document that is purely transient or purely persistent is likely the exception; the common cases are XML documents that are a mix of transience and persistence.

 

However, what I was trying to do was to explore the "space" of possibilities for XML usage.  To put it into semi-mathematical terms, I want to define the "axes/dimensions" of XML usage.

 

To summarize everyone's comments it appears that there are three "dimensions" to the usage of XML:

1. Persistent XML: the XML document is persistent.  Applications operate directly on the XML document.

2. Transient XML: upon arrival at its destination the data may be transformed into some other format (language objects, relational database, etc) that applications work with.

3. Application XML: the XML document is the application.

Question:

 

Does the usage (role) of an XML document influence its design? 

 

For example, are transient XML documents typically flat, whereas persistent XML documents typically nested?

 

Peter, I am still struggling how to put into the above "space" your ideas on XML-and-UI.  Your assertion is that the usage of XML is not a 3-dimensional space, but a 4-dimensional space?  Can you characterize the fourth dimension?

 

/Roger