Re: Update on namespaces

David G. Durand wrote:
> 
> At 11:28 AM -0500 6/18/97, Matthew Fuchs wrote:
> >> For now, I lean to #3, with AF's a fallback position if there's a really
> >> good reason for not doing #3.  Andrew Layman and have agreed to cook
> >> up a formal proposal along these lines, which will be forthcoming.
> >>
> >>-- End of excerpt from Tim Bray
> >
> >Occam's razor would indicate going with #2, since we need add nothing.  #3 is
> >certainly cool syntactic sugar, but it opens the door to messing with the
> >structure of the GI.  I've also suggested a different extension for error
> >recovery.
> 
> And the notion that XML should not have any syntax it does not need also
> argues for #2. In fact, I have yet to see an answer to the arguments of
> myself and others that there is _no_ positive argument for #3, if #2 can
> meet the need.
> 
> The only argument that I can think of is a knee-jerk opposition to any form
> of markup declaration by those members of the web community who _lack_ any
> experience with structured markup other than HTML. Parsing the entity and
> attribute declarations in the DTD subset provides more notational power
> than any the hacked-up GI formats that have been proposed, and will be
> required for reliable operation of XML-link anyway.
> 
> Needless to say (as you might guess from my presentation of the argument),
> I am not convinced. However, I'd like to see the argument presented in
> rational terms, or another better argument presented.

In complete agreement with David and Mathew.  

The argument of "not liked in WebLand" is irrational.   
It is all too easy to lightly dismiss a decade of work in which one did
not 
participate and does not bear one's imprimatur.

All redefining the DTD into uselessness does is increase the 
urge to abandon XML work and return to fixing SGML.  That 
process will be more rational than one in which faceless, nameless 
wordless entities set the rules, the tenor, and the outcome.  Nyet.

The XML reference to ISO 8879 must be normative to prevent precisely 
this kind of bad judgement and unregulated process.

Len Bullard

Received on Wednesday, 18 June 1997 21:21:12 UTC