[Bug 3378] Last Call comment: Please make xs:anyAtomicType abstract

http://www.w3.org/Bugs/Public/show_bug.cgi?id=3378





------- Comment #3 from holstege@mathling.com  2007-09-28 15:32 -------
The preponderance of sentiment was to not make the change because
xs:anySimpleType is already concrete and is used in schemas in the wild for
generic attributes.  If you wish to define a base level schema that has no
commitment to a specific type for an attribute, with the intention that 
later versions or local refinements of that schema will give a specific type,
you have no other option.  So it is by no means obvious to us that making
xs:anySimpleType concrete constitutes a design mistake.  Has xs:anyAtomicType
been available in XSDL 1.0, likely many of these schemas would have used it in
the way xs:anySimpleType is now used, and outlawing this practice seems 
counter-productive.  In addition, while it is quite possible for a type 
derivation hierarchy in the context of structures to have this kind of
flip-flop
from concrete to abstract to concrete types, this would be the only case within
the datatypes proper, which do get used in other contexts, and this gives
(some of) us pause.

On the other hand, we do not fully understand that the actual impact on XQuery
as a language would be, and would welcome a crisper explanation of that.

Received on Friday, 28 September 2007 15:32:16 UTC