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Re: C.4 Undeclared entities?

From: Charles F. Goldfarb <Charles@SGMLsource.com>
Date: Fri, 25 Oct 1996 03:36:49 GMT
To: Michael Sperberg-McQueen <U35395@UICVM.UIC.EDU>
Cc: W3C SGML Working Group <w3c-sgml-wg@w3.org>
Message-ID: <32760417.16473510@mail.alink.net>
On Tue, 22 Oct 96 08:25:14 CDT, Michael Sperberg-McQueen <U35395@UICVM.UIC.EDU>
wrote:

>[Medium-long note.  Executive summary:  the discussion of 'implicit'
>DTDs has served its purpose and can be ended without damage to
>the process of designing and documenting XML 1.0.]

O.K. It is now clear that in XML a document "without a DTD" means literally
that, and not just "parsable without reference to  its DTD". I think this is
unfortunate because I believe it will render XML a non-starter in the
marketplace.

I hope someone can prove me wrong by rebutting the following proposition (formal
mathematical proof not required):

XML without a DTD is no different from HTML extended by the ability to "add tags
and attributes" just by defining processing for the additions in a style sheet
(cascading or otherwise).
--
Charles F. Goldfarb * Information Management Consulting * +1(408)867-5553
           13075 Paramount Drive * Saratoga CA 95070 * USA
  International Standards Editor * ISO 8879 SGML * ISO/IEC 10744 HyTime
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--
Received on Thursday, 24 October 1996 23:36:32 EDT

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