Re: Associating semantics between languages.

>   Given random XML-based markup languages fooML, and yaxmlbML, as well
>   as random XML-supporting user-agent bar, which language should be used
>   to inform the UA that element X in fooML has the same meaning (same
>   semantics) as element Y in yaxmlbML?

I think if the designers of the languages cared enough about that they
would use namespaces to make the elements the same.  The reality is
that the not-invented-here syndrome will ensure that, like natural
languages, terms are never the same and will have subtly different
shades of meaning.

If you use a dictionary, particularly the sort that has single word
definitions, to translate from one natural language to another,
the result is usually almost gibberish.  You can see something like
this if you try to translate Chinese to English using Babelfish,
although that sometimes translates phrases as well as words.

Received on Tuesday, 7 June 2005 06:59:24 UTC