Re: Dropping pragmas

Norm Tovey-Walsh writes:

> After Tuesday’s meeting and upon further reflection, I don’t think we’re
> going to reach consensus on pragmas for Invisible XML v1. I don’t think
> the remaining difficulties are technical, I think they’re philosophical
> and ideological. I’m not saying we can’t work them out, but if we want
> to have Invisible XML v1 finished for Prague, I’m suggesting that we
> don’t have time to do it now.

It is with some regret that I conclude that Norm is right, and we should
drop the pragmas proposal.  

Tuesday's call was useful, I think, in clarifying just how divergent the
points of view in the group appear to be, and how broad the range of
issues is on which our points of view differ.  It appears that we don't
just disagree on the best way to deal with extensions and
non-standardized information, and on the likely consequences of any
particular design but also on whether dealing with those things is
something that should be done at all.

I worry about the long-term consequences of dropping pragmas.  But the
short-term consequences of continuing to discuss them appear to be even
worse: that we won't have a spec to publish before the conferences this
summer.  And that would make the long term irrelevant.

Since dropping pragmas seems likely to be a bitter pill for those who
favor the current proposal, it would be good if we as a group can find
something positive and satisfying to agree on soon.

Michael


-- 
C. M. Sperberg-McQueen
Black Mesa Technologies LLC
http://blackmesatech.com

Received on Saturday, 2 April 2022 00:40:49 UTC