Re: What are Semantics? (Was: Serving generic XML)

Elliotte Rusty Harold wrote:
> Right there is where we disagree. I believe semantics is in the document 
> even  WITH NO UA KNOWLEDGE OF THE SPECIFIC MARKUP LANGUAGE. In fact, 
> I'll go further: there's meaning in the document even if there's no user 
> agent. You do not have to have prior agreement or understanding in order 
> to usefully process documents.  It may help to have such agreement, but 
> it is not a sine qua non.

Perhaps it would be easier for us to agree if you would define "usefully 
process documents". Where's the meaning and what can I do with a 
document that uses a vocabulary I don't know? What if that vocabulary is 
in a language I don't understand (the use of English here for examples 
tends do cloud the issue)? How do I find out that "d" holds path data?

-- 
Robin Berjon <robin.berjon@expway.fr>
Research Engineer, Expway