Re: Undocumented, undiscussed substantive changes in the 10 May draft

I must second that objection.

_________________
Tomos Hillman
eXpertML Ltd
+44 7793 242058
On 10 May 2022, 5:55 PM +0100, Norm Tovey-Walsh <norm@saxonica.com>, wrote:
> Hello,
>
> The 10 May 2022 version of the Invisible XML specification has been
> redrafted with new language that is, I believe, a significant step
> backwards in terms of readability and understandability.
>
> For example, in the 7 April draft, under rules, we find:
>
> A mark is one of @, ^ or -, and indicates whether the item so marked
> will be serialised as an attribute (@), an element with its children
> (^), which is the default, or only its children (-).
>
> In the 10 May draft, it reads:
>
> A mark is one of ^, @ or -, and indicates whether the item so marked
> will be serialised as a structured element with its children (^) which
> is the default, as unstructured data in an attribute (@), or deleted,
> so that only its children are serialized (-).
>
> That’s just one example of a pervasive move away from concrete
> descriptions of the XML serialization to favor wishy-washy (and
> undefined) concepts such as “structured” and “unstructured”. Those words
> do not rise to the level of terms of art that can be used in a technical
> specification without definition.
>
> I object to this change having been silently made with no corresponding
> issue or discussion. This is not merely an editorial change, this
> represents a departure in technical clarity and perhaps even underlying
> meaning from the previous drafts.
>
> Be seeing you,
> norm
>
> --
> Norm Tovey-Walsh
> Saxonica