Re: [xml-dev] A generic approach to XML design versus a hardcodedapproac

[John Cowan <johnwcowan@gmail.com>]

On Fri, Oct 7, 2016 at 2:20 PM, Costello, Roger L. <costello@mitre.org> wrote:

<graduation date="2012-03-21"/>

<event type="graduation" date="2012-03-21"/>

The first design uses a “hardcoded approach to XML design.” The <graduation> element hardcodes the event.

In the generic approach the semantics is in the attribute value. In the hardcoded approach the semantics is in the element name.

They are both hardcoded: in one case the element name is hardcoded, in the other, the attribute name is hardcoded.   In fact, element names ("general identifiers" in SGML-speak) are simply the values of an attribute that has no name.

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