- From: Philip TAYLOR (Ret'd) <P.Taylor@Rhul.Ac.Uk>
- Date: Fri, 21 Nov 2008 19:27:16 +0000
- To: Maciej Stachowiak <mjs@apple.com>
- CC: "public-html@w3.org" <public-html@w3.org>
Maciej Stachowiak wrote: > HTML5 is indeed defined in prose, unlike many other languages where > important normative requirements are delegated to a DTD or schema. Hardly "delegated", Maciej : a DTD or schema is a formal language, ideal for (and indeed, intended for) such applications. Prose, being natural language, would be considered by many to lack the rigour necessary for such a task. It may well be beneficial to /supplement/ the DTD or schema by prose, to aid its comprehension by those unfamiliar with the formal language (just as the "Revised Report on the Algorithmic Language Algol-68" was supplemented by the "Informal Introduction to Algol-68", for those unfamiliar with VW grammars), but to rely solely upon prose to define a language as potentially important as HTML 5 is, IMHO, unwise. Philip TAYLOR
Received on Friday, 21 November 2008 19:28:00 UTC