Re: Update on namespaces

At 8:20 PM -0500 6/18/97, len bullard wrote:

>In complete agreement with David and Mathew.

Always nice to hear that.

But...

>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.

I don't really agree here. I think SGML will _not_ fill the role XML _may_
fill, so I don't think this is an option, at least for me.

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

I still disagree with this. A normative reference turns 8879 into mandatory
reading for implementors, and implies that _if_ there's a hole in the XML
spec, then 8879 may automatically be invoked to clarify things -- and I
don't think that XML can assume that 8879 will give the best solution to
unanticipated problems. The XML standard must be free-standing -- It's up
to us to make sure that it is.

We can't use 8879 as a crutch, but have to resolve our own problems here. I
may be arguing a conservative line on this issue, but it's not because I
believe that we _shouldn't ever_ extend on 8879, but that we had better
_understand_ any extensions we do, and _all_ the implications.

 -- David

_________________________________________
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
--------------------------------------------\  http://dynamicDiagrams.com/
MAPA: mapping for the WWW                    \__________________________

Received on Thursday, 19 June 1997 12:41:41 UTC