Re: [xml-dev] Replace short codes when converting legacy to XML?

[Michael Kay <mike@saxonica.com>]

My general approach to this is to use the jargon that's prevalent in the user community, if it's widely known and generally accepted - even if it was originally adopted for computer-related reasons.

(Fun fact: when my dad was designing a new UK university admissions system in the 1960s, they decided to give each university a code of five letters or less, for example LBORO for Loughborough, to minimise the space used on an 80-column punched card. Those codes started to come into widespread use in other processes, and sixty years later most of them are still used as domain names for university web sites, often as synonyms for a longer name. But moving away from the abbreviations would give problems: there are now two universities in Nottingham, for example, who might quarrel over ownership of the unabbreviated name.)

Michael Kay
Saxonica

> On 14 Mar 2022, at 12:02, Roger L Costello <costello@mitre.org> wrote:
> 
> Hi Folks,
> 
> I am creating an XML Schema for air refueling routes. The XML format will replace a legacy format.
> 
> Each point on an air refueling route is identified: is the point an entry point (enter the air refueling route), an exit point (exit the air refueling route), and so forth. 
> 
> For generations air navigators have used the code ET for EnTry point and the code EX for EXit point. I think the codes were made short due to limited computer memory on the airplanes.
> 
> I figure it's time for the air navigators to change and use human-friendly terms. So, instead of creating my XML Schema using legacy codes:
> 
> <xs:enumeration value="ET"/>
> <xs:enumeration value="EX"/>
> 
> I plan to create an XML Schema that uses human-friendly terms:
> 
> <xs:enumeration value="entry point"/>
> <xs:enumeration value="exit point"/>
> 
> Is it a good idea to replace the codes with human-friendly terms? Or, should my XML Schema continue using the codes?
> 
> Once I've completed my XML Schema I will show it to the air navigators to get their approval (or disapproval).
> 
> /Roger
> 
> 
> 
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