Re: [xml-dev] Re: XML element names

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

David Carver wrote:

> Michael, I would have to disagree with this. EDI had/has cryptic 
> characters and if you are an end user trying to figure out why a message 
> isn't coming in as you expect, unless you know the spec inside and out 
> for the message being sent, it is very time consuming trying to debug 
> what is wrong. The same thing hold's true for XML files and elements and 
> attribute names. A human eventually has to look at it at some point 
> during the development process. Even programmers, and I know many that 
> prefer something they can read and decipher, as opposed to the other 
> formats that require more intiment knowledge of the spec (i.e. 
> <2A3></2A3> what does that actually mean?? as opposed to 
> <PurchaseOrderID></PurchaseOrderID>).

I absolutely agree, but Michael's point may be that when dealing with 
XML names we don't require absolute fidelity. It's OK to use an 
underscore instead of a space or a apostrophe, and make various other 
changes as long as the intent is still reasonably clear. In markup 
and/or code no one gets too bent out of shape if they see resume where 
one would expect resumé. They're just happy it's not rsm or, worse yet, 
2A3. :-)

-- 
Elliotte Rusty Harold  elharo@metalab.unc.edu
Java I/O 2nd Edition Just Published!
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