RE: Parameterization of Transforms

I completely agree that "John:" is the BEST way to do this.

jim

> -----Original Message-----
> From: John Boyer [mailto:jboyer@uwi.com]
> Sent: Friday, October 29, 1999 9:46 AM
> To: Donald E. Eastlake 3rd; DSig Group
> Cc: Joseph M. Reagle Jr.
> Subject: RE: Parameterization of Transforms 
> 
> 
> Hi Don and Joseph,
> 
> Between your emails, you've really pointed out, at least to 
> me, that the
> parameters are pretty much a useless waste of characters in 
> general, not
> just in transforms.  Here are the three things we're talking about:
> 
> Don: <Parameter 
> type="urn:ietf-org:hmac-truncation-length>128</Parameter>
> 
> Joseph (sans xmlns):
> <Parameter>
>    <truncation-length>128</truncation-length>
> <Parameter>
> 
> John: <truncation-length>128</truncation-length>
> 
> Put any of these three inside of an element and they mean the 
> same thing.
> Wrapping a parameter tag around it  just wastes characters.  
> Of course it is
> a parameter to the algorithm, so saying it adds no 
> information value.  The
> way I see it, we are using XML to represent a function call.  
> Consider the
> analogous case of using XML to represent a data record (heterogeneous
> conglomeration of data grouped together for some purpose).  
> For example,
> suppose it represents an item of inventory.  You would have:
> 
> <item>
> 	<name>Television, 19 inch, Color</name>
> 	<serialno>123456</serialno>
> 	<unitcost>100</unitcost>
> 	<price>300</price>
> 	...
> </item>
> 
> What you're proposing for function parameters is analogous to 
> wrapping all
> of the subelements in the item above in 'field' elements, as follows:
> 
> Don:
> <item>
> 	<field type="name">Television, 19 inch, Color</field>
> 	<field type="serialno">123456</field>
> 	<field type="unitcost">100</field>
> 	<field type="price">300</field>
> 	...
> </item>
> 
> Joseph (sans xmlns):
> <item>
> 	<field>
> 		<name>Television, 19 inch, Color</name>
> 	</field>
> 	<field>
> 		<serialno>123456</serialno>
> 	</field>
> 	<field>
> 		<unitcost>100</unitcost>
> 	</field>
> 	<field>
> 		<price>300</price>
> 	</field>
> 	...
> </item>
> 
> Clearly, this is not useful.
> 
> John Boyer
> Software Development Manager
> UWI.Com -- The Internet Forms Company
> 
> 

Received on Friday, 29 October 1999 15:12:28 UTC