Every species has modes of communication. We use language for communication, of course, but basically language is an instrument of thought. Language is sometimes called audible thought. Almost all we do with language is to construct thoughts in our mind. Sometimes we externalize those thoughts-sometimes we communicate-but that's a kind of a side property of language. [Noam Chomsky, https://youtu.be/6LXHtDUXkS0?t=899] We have an idea for a language. We then specify the language via an XML Schema. The XML Schema is an instrument of our thought. XML instances that conform to the XML Schema is a mode of communicating in that language. Comments? /Roger _______________________________________________________________________ XML-DEV is a publicly archived, unmoderated list hosted by OASIS to support XML implementation and development. To minimize spam in the archives, you must subscribe before posting. [Un]Subscribe/change address: http://www.oasis-open.org/mlmanage/ Or unsubscribe: xml-dev-unsubscribe@lists.xml.org subscribe: xml-dev-subscribe@lists.xml.org List archive: http://lists.xml.org/archives/xml-dev/ List Guidelines: http://www.oasis-open.org/maillists/guidelines.php