Re: [xml-dev] [Summary] Better design: "flatter is better" or "nesting is better" ?

Costello, Roger L. said:

>In the case of XML documents that are merely transport syntax,
>you need to consider the destiny of the data, that is, you need to
>consider the format that the data will be placed into.

Also, the more that the destination purpose or application is
unknown, the more likely it is that the (implicit or explicit)
schema will be influenced by what is easy to generate (the
originating format, if any) rather than what is easy to accept
(the destination format.)

For example, a database dump for archiving purposes is probably
going to be fairly flat (unless the database strongly has some
tree structures that the developer feels strongly enough to
bring out, or unless some automated tool plays some tricks.)

Cheers
Rick Jelliffe