RE: [xquery-talk] Serialization of XDM

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

> 
> I believe this lack of standardization for serialization of 
> XDM is both 
> a "Problem" and a "BIG Problem"
> Before I extend the topic to "suggested solutions" I would love some 
> feedback.
> 
> Q: Does anyone else agree this is a "Problem" or a "Big 
> Problem" ? Am I alone ? Why is this NOT a "Big Problem"?

Saxon has a serialization format for arbitrary XDM sequences: you can see it
by running a query with -wrap option from the command line. Perhaps oddly,
Saxon can generate this format, but there are no tools to parse it and
reconstruct the original sequence.

I seem to remember someone proposing that a format like this should be
standardised in the XQuery WG years ago - if only as a standard way of
representing the results of queries in the test suite. But the fact that
no-one was prepared to do the work suggests that not many people thought it
was a big problem.

> Q: Is there any known work in progress aimed at solving this problem ?

Not that I know of.

> Q: Would it be of value to solve this problem ? (and why not ?)

Yes. Whether the value would exceed the cost is anyone's guess.

> Q: Would there be any interest in tackling this problem in a 
> formal way, such as a W3C recommendation ?

W3C groups are generally having difficulty finding the resources to complete
their existing work programmes, without taking on anything new.

> Q: If there were a recommendation approved would vendors be 
> interested or willing to adopt / implement it ?
> 

If there appeared to be sufficient support behind it, then yes.

Regards,

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