RE: [xml-dev] "XML is just syntax" versus "Use semantic markup" (Is thi

["Michael Kay" <mike@saxonica.com>]

> All computers can do is play with symbols: labels and pointers.

Indeed. And I think the answer to Roger's "paradox" is that different layers
of the system play different games with the same symbols.

At the XML level (level 6) <div> is just "an element named div". At the next
layer up (layer 7) it might trigger the action "start a new section" or
"perform a division". Some people might like to speak as if <div> actually
*means* "start a new section" or "perform a division": that is, that it has
semantics. I much prefer Rick's terminology - these are simply games that
particular pieces of software play when they see this element.

Michael Kay
http://www.saxonica.com/