Re: [dgd@cs.bu.edu: BOS confusion (analysis; suggestion to resolve Newcomb/Bryan conflict)]

At 4:53 AM 1/3/97, Martin Bryan wrote:
>David
>The point is that if we are using HyTime links then we need an entity
>declaration that can be used to name the link source for a chain of links
>(we don't want to repeat the same 1024 character URL hundreds of times, we
>want to give it an id in a well controlled namespace). This is how HyTime
>works.

Well, if it _requires the entity reference,_ then we should not use HyTime.

>> That means _no  mandatory entity declarations_ in the
>>definition of linking.
>
>But this would make the use of link sources for link chains impossible. Link
>chains are one of the real gains that HyTime has to offer. If we drop them
>from XML we are dead. Without a formally defined sources in the BOS you
>cannot have a start point for the chain.]

No, it would make the use of link sources _optional_. I don't have a
problem with using entities -- after all we want the advantages. But we
cannot have a solution that requires entity delcarations to make simple
links. We need to provide the same simplicity people have now, though we
can add complexity, where it also adds power.

I like chains, but my inclination is to keep them short anyway... Like 1 or
two levels. This also means that we don't have to explain to browser
manufacturers how to implement cyle-detection in their link-following
module.

   -- David

I am not a number. I am an undefined character.
_________________________________________
David Durand              dgd@cs.bu.edu  \  david@dynamicDiagrams.com
Boston University Computer Science        \  Sr. Analyst
http://www.cs.bu.edu/students/grads/dgd/   \  Dynamic Diagrams
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Received on Friday, 3 January 1997 10:03:45 UTC