Re: [xml-dev] Please stop writing specifications that cannot beparsed/pr

[Michael Kay <mike@saxonica.com>]

>no-one has to invent something new to get what you are asking for

But if you're prepared to invent something new then you can probably do better...

For example, the XPath function library is defined in an XML document that contains all the function signatures in a custom vocabulary reflecting the object model for XPath functions, and that data is extremely useful; it can be used for example to create the data used by a type-checker. I'm sure there are cases where an XML format can be standardised across a wide range of specifications (for example, a format for defining BNF grammars) but I'm sure that highly specialised custom formats also have a role to play.

Of course in our own community we're very prepared to eat our own dogfood in this way. Getting people to use a similar approach when they're writing safety standards for industrial washing machines is a different kettle of fish. Those guys just click on the word processor icon and start typing.

Michael Kay
Saxonica



> On 26 May 2023, at 00:20, G. Ken Holman <gkholman@CraneSoftwrights.com> wrote:
> 
> Roger, already standards from ISO and CEN are being published in NISO STS XML:
> 
> https://www.niso-sts.org/
> 
> And there some SDOs (Standards Development Organizations) that are building requirements into their STS XML so they can be harvested downstream after publishing by requirements management software tracking, for example, "may", "shall", "should", etc.:
> 
> https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK556169/#holman-semantics2
> 
> I commend that paper I wrote regarding the identification of semantics (say, of requirements) in standards content.
> 
> I've co-founded a company in Ireland that is servicing the standards development community of SDOs with software that is publishing these richly-encoded XML documents into PDF, HTML, and DOCX:
> 
> https://RealtaOnline.com
> 
> Moreover, SDOs are looking to us to enrich their XML and we are experimenting with AI in this regard. Exciting stuff.
> 
> I'm delivering a presentation at JATS-Con 2023 you may wish to attend to learn more about how Réalta Online is using standards such as XSLT and XSL-FO to enrich and publish standards with fidelity across output products:
> 
> https://jats.nlm.nih.gov/jats-con/2023/schedule2023a.html#1-1145
> 
> So I think all that is needed is an awareness campaign to make standards writers and SDOs aware that the technology exists already. We don't have to wait to be able to do what it is you are asking. It just has to be done with the tools at hand.
> 
> And not just for ISO and CEN standards. Hundreds of SDOs exist out there publishing thousands of standards documents. Please spread the word about NISO STS XML and the leverage they can get by adopting something that exists ... no-one has to invent something new to get what you are asking for.
> 
> I hope this is helpful.
> 
> . . . . . . . Ken
> 
> At 2023-05-25 19:57 +0000, Roger L Costello wrote:
>> Dear Specification Writer,
>> 
>> Please stop writing specifications that cannot be parsed/processed by software. Please stop formatting your specifications as Word and PDF. Instead, use a format that is amenable to machine processing. The XML format is ideal. We want to analyze your specifications. We don't want to spend dozens of hours screen-scraping your Word/PDF documents.
>> 
>> If you simply must persist in writing Word/PDF documents, then please write in a consistent way so that we can screen-scrape without having to write special case code. To illustrate, in one of your specifications you provide a bunch of tables with data; each table has many rows. In some tables you reference a note. Here's a row with a note reference:
>> 
>> 119 Approach Route (1) Note 1 5.7
>> 
>> Here's another row with a note reference:
>> 
>> 52 SID Ident (1) (Note 1) 5.78
>> 
>> Why did you embed Note 1 within parentheses in the second case but not the first? That's an example of not being consistent. Such inconsistencies make it difficult to do screen-scraping. Please be consistent. If at all possible, write a parser to parse the data that you embed in your specification. This will immediately inform you of any inconsistencies.
>> 
>> Thank you,
>> From the people who must read, understand, and analyze your specifications
>> 
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> 
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