Re: [xml-dev] Terminology: vocabulary, grammar, or something else?

["Graham Hannington" <graham_hannington@fundi.com.au>]

> I prefer the phrase "XML application"

That's a fair call, and it has history on its side.

My only problem with it (not that I have the temerity to think that any 
problem I might have with it would significantly affect its claim to being 
the correct term) is that, to me, "application" sounds like something that 
"does" something (performs a task; processes information) as opposed to 
something that, er, "is" (a method of representing, or communicating, 
information). I understand that one can apply the rules of X to create Y, 
and that Y can then be said to be "an application of X", or that Y is an 
"X application", but I've never been entirely comfortable with this sense 
of "application" in relation to software; I find myself performing a 
mental double-take (my problem, not necessarily shared by anyone else).

Graham Hannington

Fundi Software Pty Ltd  2012  ABN 89 009 120 290


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