Re: [xml-dev] Is an XML vocabulary a Domain Specific Language (DSL)?

[David Carlisle <davidc@nag.co.uk>]

On 12/09/2012 11:59, Costello, Roger L. wrote:
> Hi Folks,
>
> If I create an XML vocabulary, then have I created a DSL?
>
> Yesterday I heard someone say, "A configuration file is a DSL."
>
> So if I create an XML-formatted configuration file, then I have
> created a DSL. Right?
>
> Are there some XML vocabularies that would be considered DSL's and
> other XML vocabularies that would not be considered DSL's?
>
> Is RSS a DSL?
>
> Is UBL a DSL?
>
> Is XSD a DSL?
>
> /Roger
>


whether a language is a DSL is mostly something about what the language
is used for, whether it is an XML vocabulary is purely a question about
its syntax and these are essentially unrelated facets.

If you have a DSL you could give it an XML syntax or a non XML syntax,
some languages (notably Relax NG, XQuery, (X)HTML) have an XML syntax
_and_ a non XML syntax. Whether or not you consider them to be
domain-specific applies equally to both syntaxes.


David



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