Re: [xml-dev] XML spec and XSD

[Mukul Gandhi <gandhi.mukul@gmail.com>]

Thanks, Jim for some nice comments.

My intention was not to say, that DTD is now not useful. As you
rightly said, DTD is still preferred over XSD for certain class of
problems.

My averment was to give XSD the same status as DTD, as a XML
validation technology in W3C XML spec.

On Sun, Nov 8, 2009 at 1:31 AM, Jim Melton <jim.melton@acm.org> wrote:
> I'm one of those people who don't fall in love with technologies for their
> own sake, regardless of how beautiful and/or useful they might be.  I do
> have a fondness for elegance, as well as for practicality, but I believe
> that technology provides tools and nothing more.  XSD is one such tool, DTD
> is another.  Each has its uses, and I use them both.
>
> As Simon has pointed out, DTDs do a great job for document-centric
> applications where there is little that needs to be known about the
> semantics of atomic data types.  I use DTDs for my editing work on the SQL
> standard and on W3C documents, as well as for a host of other documents I do
> in other aspects of my day job and my life.
>
> Schemas are often very clumsy for validating "ustructured" textual
> documents, such as fiction books, biographies, and the like.  But schemas
> (XSD being the W3C-defined instance of this technology) are very useful when
> dealing with structured documents, especially those that contain lots of
> traditional data and/or those that are generated specifically from data (not
> to mention those that *are* data expressed in an XML tree).
>
> I get very, very frustrated when I'm trying to drive a nail into their wall
> using a screwdriver, as well as when I'm trying to get a screw out of the
> wall using a hammer.  That doesn't make me hate the screwdriver or the
> hammer -- nor, for that matter, to love either one when I figure out that I
> got it backwards and start using the proper tool for each job.  They're just
> tools.  Pick the right one for your job.
>
> If your management is forcing you to use XSD for unstructured document
> validation (or DTDs for highly structured data validation), don't hate XSD
> (or DTD)...hate the bureaucracy that limits your choice of tool!
>
> Hope this helps,
>   Jim
>
> ========================================================================
> Jim Melton --- Editor of ISO/IEC 9075-* (SQL)     Phone: +1.801.942.0144
>  Chair, W3C XML Query WG; XQX (etc.) editor       Fax : +1.801.942.3345
> Oracle Corporation        Oracle Email: jim dot melton at oracle dot com
> 1930 Viscounti Drive      Standards email: jim dot melton at acm dot org
> Sandy, UT 84093-1063 USA          Personal email: jim at melton dot name
> ========================================================================



-- 
Regards,
Mukul Gandhi