groves

> >   * DSSSL defines a standard post-parsed form for a document--a grove.
> >     Since this is standard, it should be possible to define a linearization
> >     of a grove into a content type such that an application has to make
> >     no decisions upon reading the data.  It just re-formulates the 
> >     grove into a tree-like construct (or whatever).  No DTD here!
> >     No Parsing Here!   ...hmmmm, sounds like BSGML!

The HyTime Technical Corrigendum does define such a thing, though I
fear it is not exactly what is wanted here.  In a grove, every parsed
content data character gets its own node.  If the intent is to pass
groves around, a highly optimized interpretation needs to be used to
avoid too much overhead.  I believe this is possible, but it might not
be easy.  Such a protocol would provide a way to send the useful (as
defined by the client, using a grove plan) subset of the information
derived from parsing a SGML document, while not requiring the client
to have a true-blue SGML parser.  This only makes sense to me in a
very tightly coupled environment, e.g. Jade, where the protocol is
entirely procedure/memory based.

While such a protocol might be really useful for HyTime (or any other
architecture in which groves have emergent properties which may be
expensive to regenerate at the client side), it is not necessary for
XML as defined by its current design goals.

(Aside: This is not to say that the concept is not a good one.  The whole
concept of property sets is very useful from the point of view of an
application framework.  The SGML property set provides a common way
for different applications to communicate about every facet of an SGML
document.  The ESIS (etc.) properties alone do not provide such
flexibility.  Property sets are useful for both the editor application
and the SGML processing tool.  ESIS, etc. properties are focused at
meeting the needs of the SGML processing tool only.  This discussion
has little to do with XML's requirements as presently defined, though.)

- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Derek Denny-Brown <derdb@techno.com> | Technical Staff @ TechnoTeacher, Inc.
  http://www.techno.com/~derdb/      |    work-phone: (716) 389-0963
      SGML/HyTime/DSSSL/WWW          |      http://www.techno.com/
------- End of forwarded message -------

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Received on Thursday, 19 September 1996 17:37:36 UTC