Re: SD2 - Structured Attributes

At 10:47 AM -0600 5/19/97, Dave Hollander wrote:
>> Paul Prescod writes:
>> Cannot the distinction between attribute/meta and content be driven
>> completly by data types? ...
>
>I believe that it could be done by data types. I would prefer if it
>was a language convention and not a specific application's convention.
>I believe that data typing is a better answer to the problem (as
>I understand the problem) than a new syntax.

(Sequence of following items re-ordered for emphasis)

>My current vote:
>
> Should XML 1.0 describe the formatting behavior for "attribute
>	content": yes
>	(if no, then I do not see a need for this convention to be
>	part of xml)

NO. Formatting behavior is to be defined by stylesheets, and is not part of
the XML language. If the whole attribute thing comes down to formatting,
then it's already strictly out of scope!

And as you say, the rest of the points are moot, as _there is no reason_
for such a convention to be part of XML.

If there really is a _universal_ cross-application distinction between data
and meta-data then it might need to be in XML, or to be supported by a
well-known convention for XML. I don't believe that there is a _universal_
distinction here, so it is a place where a convention is needed for those
applications that have similar "meta-data" or "attribute" needs. This kind
of semantics might be conveniently called an "attribute" but it has _no_
essential connection to the SGML feature that shares the name.


   -- David

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Received on Wednesday, 21 May 1997 15:53:48 UTC