RE: [xml-dev] Defining an XML vocabulary: specify syntax, semantics, and

[Len Bullard <len.bullard@uai.com>]

Not much time for this:

The question might be better phrased by specifying the actor that is
instructed.  No format without a format handler.

XML doesn't care what you intend to do with information.

So is the question: what is the optimum way to specify processor behavior
for some given XML and some given processor?

len


From: noah_mendelsohn@us.ibm.com [mailto:noah_mendelsohn@us.ibm.com] 
 
I think the question ultimately proves to be circular.  There are many 
uses of XML:  for some of those uses, the whole point is to encode 
behavior, and for some uses it's just to encode information.  The most 
obvious example of the former would be an XML serialization of some 
imperative set of instructions:  go to the store, buy some yogurt, go 
home, eat it.  For such uses, of course it makes sense to define 
"behavioral information".   In other cases, XML is used to encode just 
information or data.  For example:  "Noah's phone number is 555-1234".  I 
claim there need not in general be any preferred behavior associated with 
receiving or encountering an XML document encoding this information. 
Should you dial my phone number every time you open the XML file?  Should 
you add it to your address book again?  If the answer is yes, then your 
goal was not to encode my phone number, it was to encode an instruction 
for doing something with my phone number.  So, it depends what you're 
trying to do.

I will say that one of the most important aspects of XML, as opposed to 
say OO programming, is that it covers both of these cases reasonably 
directly (though XML can be a pretty clumsy way to encode detailed logic 
or instructions).  To just say "Noah's phone number is 555-1234" in Java 
really isn't straightforward, though there certainly are Java idioms 
(getPhoneNumber(), setPhoneNumber)) that approximate it.  Having data that 
can be reused in many different ways is very important.

Noah

--------------------------------------
Noah Mendelsohn 
IBM Corporation
One Rogers Street
Cambridge, MA 02142
1-617-693-4036
--------------------------------------








"Fraser Goffin" <goffinf@googlemail.com>
04/10/2008 04:23 AM
 
        To:     "Costello, Roger L." <costello@mitre.org>, 
xml-dev@lists.xml.org
        cc:     (bcc: Noah Mendelsohn/Cambridge/IBM)
        Subject:        Re: [xml-dev] Defining an XML vocabulary: specify 
syntax, semantics, and BEHAVIOR?


To some extent the behavioural and semantic coupling are perhaps the
most useful parts of the vocabulary insofar as interop is concerned.
How do suggest that this information is conveyed beyond the basic
syntactical convention (i.e. an XML instance element called 'Book' in
the namespace 'urn:TreatThisAsALiteraryTextType' MUST have a specific
meaning and MUST be processed in a specific way).

For most custom vocabularies (I mean one that I might create between a
trading partner and myself) today this level of specification is
typically conveyed 'out of band' right, that is, there is nothing
beyond the naming convention to express it ?

Does the semantic web have anything to offer ?

Fraser.

On 09/04/2008, bryan rasmussen <rasmussen.bryan@gmail.com> wrote:
> >  QUESTIONS
> >
> >  1. When defining an XML vocabulary, should behavioral information
> >  always be specified?
> no.
> >
> >  2. Does it make sense to define an XML vocabulary without specifying
> >  behavioral information?
> yes
> >  3. Are there two categories of XML vocabularies:
> >
> >  (a) XML vocabularies with behavioral instructions
> >  (b) XML vocabularies without behavioral instructions
> >
> yes. Although I think vocabularies without behavioral instructions are
> vocabularies that would normally be understood as purely data
> specifying in nature.
>
> >  As shown above, XSLT, XML Schema, and XHTML are XML vocabularies that
> >  fall in the first category.
> >
> >  Consider a "Book XML vocabulary."  Here's a sample document that
> >  illustrates the Book XML vocabulary:
> >
> >  <?xml version="1.0"?>
> >  <Book>
> >     <Title>The Wisdom of Crowds</Title>
> >     <Author>James Surowiecki</Author>
> >     <Date>2005</Date>
> >     <ISBN>0-385-72170-6</ISBN>
> >     <Publisher>Anchor Books</Publisher>
> >  </Book>
> >
> >  Suppose I write a specification for this XML vocabulary.  For each
> >  element I specify its contents and the intended usage.  But suppose
> >  that I don't instruct application developers on the (default and/or
> >  mandatory) behavior of each element.  How will I certify that the
> >  application is compliant?
>
>
> Because the general purpose of a Book vocabulary in all the examples
> I've seen is in the holding of book specific data. There are of course
> real world Book specifying vocabularies that are concerned with how a
> 'book' must behave, the behavior being specific to a particular type
> of media.
>
> Cheers,
> Bryan Rasmussen
>
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