- From: Judith Slein <slein@wrc.xerox.com>
- Date: Tue, 7 Oct 1997 07:49:50 PDT
- To: Martin J. Dürst <mduerst@ifi.unizh.ch>@parc.xerox.com
- Cc: Yaron Goland <yarong@microsoft.com>, "'ejw@ics.uci.edu'" <ejw@ics.uci.edu>, "'Terry Allen'" <tallen@sonic.net>, "'w3c-dist-auth@w3.org'" <w3c-dist-auth@w3.org>
I agree with Martin, that if we are relying on XML, we should use the official mechanism for defining XML syntax -- a DTD. Putting it into the specification soon would allow a thorough review of the details of the syntax. --Judy At 05:15 AM 10/7/97 PDT, Martin J. Dürst wrote: >On Mon, 6 Oct 1997, Yaron Goland wrote: > >> DTDs are NOT necessary for XML and in fact are seen as being deprecated >> by many parts of the XML community. > >... while they are highly valued by other parts of that community :-). > > >> Furthermore the DTD syntax is not >> well known amongst the HTTP community, of which DAV is a member, while >> BNF is. >> >> Given that providing a DTD is not necessity for XML and that we will >> still have to provide our current syntax I propose that we add DTDs, as >> an appendix, to the final draft. Until we reach that final draft, there >> is little point in having to maintain two sets of definitions. > >A DTD is indeed not necessary for many kinds of processing of XML, >due to certain enhancements in XML that where not present in SGML originally. >However, a DTD not only provides a written definition of an XML >application, it also allows to use tools to a much greater extent >than a BNF. With a DTD and a piece of XML, you can check whether >the XML conforms to the DTD with tools that are both publicly >available or commercial. > >Also, it is very clear that a DTD is the official way to define >some XML syntax. The problem is that the expressibility of a >DTD is not exactly the same as that of a BNF. There are some >cases that are easier to specify in a DTD, and others that are >easier to do in a BNF. But having two different specifications >in the WEBDAV spec is of course not desirable. That's why I >think it makes a lot of sense to try to start with a DTD >early on. We don't need to repeat the mistakes Netscape made >with HTML. > > >Regards, Martin. > > > Name: Judith A. Slein E-Mail: slein@wrc.xerox.com Internal Phone: 8*222-5169 External Phone: (716) 422-5169 Fax: (716) 265-7133 MailStop: 105-50C
Received on Tuesday, 7 October 1997 10:52:44 UTC