Re: [xml-dev] To namespace or not to Namespace ....

[Kendall Shaw <kshaw@kendallshaw.com>]

David <dlee@calldei.com> writes:

> Any *practical* suggestions ?

The question is similar to whether or not to use namespaces in java or
c++, it seems to me. If you are designing a grammar, the elements should
be in a pseudo-unique namespace to distinguish them from elements of
another grammar.

Namespaces cause problems for people doing text processing instead of
XML processing, when dealing with XML. That means, in my opinion, that
it's a good idea to use XML processing instead of text processing, when
processing XML.

If, instead, you turn this into a principal that you should make your
use of XML suitable to people who have taken an oath to never understand
XML and continue with text processing (i.e. don't use namespaces just so
that people involved can continue to think of XML as text files with
pointy brackets), it will cause problems. Or, that has been my
experience.

It might usually be a good idea to only use one namespace for all the
elements of your grammar, unless they are being included from another
grammar.

Kendall