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

["Dimitri Glazkov" <dimitri.glazkov@gmail.com>]

Fascinating discussion. I think you guys are narrowing pretty
successfully the main point: it ain't meaning nothing if you're the
only one who knows it. The value of semantics is closely related to
the quantity of recipients who understand them.

In HTML, at least, the "using semantic markup" refers to correctly
applying the meaning of HTML elements to communicate the meaning of
the document. And it's only called "semantic" because there just
happened to be a highly popular document that explains the actual
semantics and a fairly large number of parties who understand that
meaning.

XML Schema (or any other related technology, including plain English)
are only good for communicating semantics so that you could increase
the community of those who grok these semantics.

:DG<

On Mon, Mar 10, 2008 at 12:43 PM, Xia Li <xli@galdosinc.com> wrote:
> I would say the tags themselves do not bear any meaning. Only when tags
>  are associated with some agreed upon vocabularies by additional
>  mechanisms or common sense, can they provide semantic meanings.
>
>  Lisa
>
>
>
>
>  -----Original Message-----
>  From: Costello, Roger L. [mailto:costello@mitre.org]
>  Sent: Sunday, March 09, 2008 5:49 AM
>  To: xml-dev@lists.xml.org
>  Subject: [xml-dev] "XML is just syntax" versus "Use semantic markup" (Is
>  this a paradox?)
>
>  Hi Folks,
>
>  I have often heard it said: "XML is just syntax."
>
>  I have equally often heard it said: "Use semantic markup."
>
>  How can XML be "just syntax" and also be "semantic markup"?
>
>  Is this a paradox?
>
>  Let me take a go at resolving this seeming paradox:
>
>  1. Tags are indeed just syntax.  They provide a mechanism for
>  structuring the data.
>
>  2. Tags are created by a specification, which define what each tag
>  means.  When constructing an XML document, there may be a choice of
>  tags, say <ABC> and <XYZ>, which may be used to wrap a particular datum
>  (item of data).  Suppose the specification gave tag <ABC> a general
>  meaning and tag <XYZ> a specific meaning. Compare:
>
>     <ABC>datum</ABC>
>
>  versus
>
>     <XYZ>datum</XYZ>
>
>  We say that the later is using "semantic markup."  This means: those
>  applications which have been implemented to understand the tag-set will
>  gain more information about 'datum' from the <XYZ> tag than from the
>  <ABC> tag.
>
>  Let me repeat the last sentence:
>
>  "... will gain more information about 'datum' from the <XYZ> tag than
>  the <ABC> tag."
>
>  Hmm, sounds to me like the tags are providing more than just syntax.
>  The tags are providing information/meaning/semantics about 'datum'.
>
>  This paradox is unresolved in my mind.
>
>  Care to take a go at resolving this paradox?
>
>  /Roger
>
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