Re: On subsetting XML...

Norm Walsh says:

> Profiling XML, providing more implementation options, will necessarily
> increase the possibility of interoperability problems and it would be
> best to avoid doing so. Profiles are a bad idea on general principles
> and are in direct conflict with one of the original goals of XML[1]: "the
> number of optional features in XML is to be kept to the absolute
> minimum, ideally zero."

If this is Norm's personal opinion, I can respectfully disagree.  If it is 
a draft
of an official TAG finding on the subject, I personally find the tone to
be quite inappropriate -- a bit of a lament that the world has somehow
failed to appreciate the pure beauty of the original specification.  
Sheesh,
it sounds like the complaints of hard-core SGML devotees against XML
itself 5 years ago :-)    Profiling is about *maximizing* interoperability 
in a world where ad hoc subsetting has already occurred.

Stress the positive: the original design of
XML has been immensely useful in a wide variety of ways that were barely 
anticipated by the original WG.  As with everything else,
its very success in a variety of environments led to new requirements,
and some refactoring is necessary to fine tune it to meet those
requirements.

Received on Thursday, 24 July 2003 20:35:52 UTC