Re: XML and required DTDs

[Alex Milowski:]

| BTW, why call XML XML?  Why not "conventions for SGML on the Web" etc.  Do
| we really want to create "Yet Another Markup Language" (YAML) and go against
| ISO standards?  I realize that there are problems *some* parts of SGML.

It's called XML because we had to call it something.  It's not full SGML.

| We should really try to define a set of conventions that work within
| ISO standard SGML and work with SGML Open and the ISO working group to
| allow SGML to adjust to fulfill needs that fall outside of ISO 8879.

That's essentially what we are doing.  Charles Goldfarb's posting
earlier today summed up the XML agenda very well, I thought.

| Lets get onto the more important issues:
| 
|    * Use of HyTime for hyper linking.
|    * Formal System Identifiers and Entity Management
|    * Use of DSSSL for active applications  (e.g. DSSSL transformations
|      can specify active transformation of documents in the clients
|      browser.  Imagine CGIs becoming self-transforming documents).
|    * Transportation of SGML, entities, catalogs, DSSSL in a sane fashion.

One thing at a time.  Right now we are talking about an application of
SGML called XML that is designed for the transmission of extensible,
structured data over the Web in a way that is easy enough to implement
that we can get past the objections leveled at full SGML by the Web
browser vendors.  Next comes hypermedia semantics and linking.
Catalogs and fragment wrapping (an essential technology not on your
list) are coming along nicely in SGML Open and don't need our
attention at the moment.  DSSSL is already a standard and dsssl-o is
shaping up solidly as the reference implementation approaches beta
status.  We will need to visit DSSSL before this is all over, but that
should probably come at the end of this effort.

| Generic and extendible markup for use in distributed systems is a hard
| problem.

Right.  Which is why we have to keep the discussion focused on one
task at a time.  This group has been given until October 6 to air all
the (non-hypermedia) issues related to XML; I think the discussion so
far has demonstrated that we will be doing very well to accomplish
that.

Jon Bosak
ERB/WG Chair

Received on Wednesday, 18 September 1996 01:31:01 UTC