- From: Peter Flynn <pflynn@curia.ucc.ie>
- Date: 22 Feb 1997 12:02:49 +0000 (GMT)
- To: w3c-sgml-wg@w3.org
Christopher Maden wrote:
>The proverbial CS bachelor's degree holder should be able to take the
>XML spec(s) and implement. They should not need to write checks to
>the ISO.
If you want to write programs for a specific environment, you have to
get the docs and read them. If some of those docs come from a commercial
organization, be it Microsoft or Apple or ISO, you have to ante up.
The question of whether or not ISO should be charging for standards
is a separate issue (I happen to agree with you that they should not,
but we can't change this).
>Bibliographic references are certainly appropriate, as are "BTW, this
>is what HyTime calls ..." or "For SGML geeks, the differences are...".
>Saying, "To understand this, read ISO 10744 Technical Corrigendum 1,"
>is a Bad Thing.
Yes, but what we should be referring people to is not just the offical
reference for standard X, but also to online document Y which is a
pragmatic summary of the relevant bits (eg for implementors). It may
be annoying to have to do this because ISO docs are so inaccessible
to the average CS grad, but I think we just have to face it.
What we must avoid at all costs is incorporating lengthy chunks of
explanatory material of this nature inline in the XML Spec. Short
bits, fine, otherwise link 'em. IMHO/YMMV.
///Peter
--
<!ELEMENT FOO o - EMPTY -- if you really loved me, you'd give me content
: Julia Flanders -->
Received on Saturday, 22 February 1997 07:02:30 UTC