XML Processing Description Language (XPDL)

I suspect most of the folks who will be in this discussion will have at
least heard of XPDL, but if anyone hasn't, it might be worth a look:

http://purl.oclc.org/NET/xpdl

In short:
XML Processing Description Language (XPDL) simplifies the management of
document sets and makes document processing more reliable. By creating
descriptions for classes of documents, rather than relying on documents to
link to processing descriptions themselves, XPDL makes it possible to move
beyond the monolithic model presented by DTDs today and to add new
resources, like schemas, style sheets, and processing information to the
concept of a document class.

I began the work before 'packaging' was the common term for such work, but
it fits a similar category.  It was originally planned to use XLink and
RDF, but given the delays in XLink and the complexity of RDF, neither of
those really happened.

I don't expect this work to be accepted in its present form, but I hope it
at least illustrates some of the problems to which packaging might be a
solution.

Also possibly worth looking at is a presentation I gave last month:
XML's Interoperability Problems: Not as easy as it seems - 
http://www.simonstl.com/articles/interop/

Simon St.Laurent
XML Elements of Style / XML: A Primer, 2nd Ed.
http://www.simonstl.com - XML essays and books

Received on Wednesday, 26 July 2000 14:25:42 UTC