Re: [xml-dev] Why does XML call them "attributes" and not name-value pai

I think that "attribute" denotes something we possess, but which is not really part of "our inner selves".

Thus an attribute is something more external and without structure, compared to more complicated inner things that we have -- which in XML are "elements", or in the human body would be "organs".

So the color of one's hair is more of an attribute, but the hair itself, or any organ, such as heart, liver or lung, is an "element"

Any objections to this?

Cheers,

Dimitre

On Sat, Jan 15, 2022 at 7:26 AM Tim Bray <tbray@textuality.com> wrote:

Haha, "attribute" was inherited from SGML which inherited it from GML.

Next, we could go tell the O-O people that "class" and "object" and "method" are stupid names.

On Sat, Jan 15, 2022 at 6:09 AM Michael Kay <mike@saxonica.com> wrote:
Aristotle would have recognised the concept of an attribute, if not its English name, and the term is universally used in data modelling discussions ("entity - relationship - attribute").

Your dictum "don't invent some artificial name" hardly applies, because the term "attribute" is very ancient and well-established. And it doesn't really address the issue: when naming an invented concept, there is always a tension between using a word that means something similar, but not quite the same, in another domain, and inventing a new term. Computing is responsible for many monstrous abuses of terminology, like using the term "real" for numbers that are actually rational, or "function" for something that can have side-effects. Naming of new concepts really depends on whether you want to emphasise the similarities to existing known concepts, or whether you want to emphasise the differences.

Michael Kay
Saxonica

On 15 Jan 2022, at 12:42, Roger L Costello <costello@mitre.org> wrote:

Hi Folks,

Someone once told me:

Call it what it is.
Don’t invent some artificial name.

The items in yellow:

<Person name="John Doe" employer="Acme Inc." age="30">…</Person>

are name-value pairs.

Why does XML call them “attributes”?

/Roger

Cheers,

Dimitre Novatchev

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