- From: <Noah_Mendelsohn@lotus.com>
- Date: Tue, 10 Apr 2001 19:45:18 -0400
- To: rayw@netscape.com (Ray Whitmer)
- Cc: "'xml-dist-app@w3.org'" <xml-dist-app@w3.org>
Ray Whitmer asks (regarding my statement that proliferation of encoding styles could limit interop): >> Is this similar to the statement: >> "The degree of interoperability XML processors achieve >> will be inversely proportional to the number of DTDs/Schemas >> that sprout up. The difference, I think, is that lots of middleware is being written to understand particular encoding styles, such as the one in SOAP chapter 5. For example, there are Java ser-/deser-ializers that can take anything in that encoding and make it available to you automatically in Java. They work regardless of whether you are asking for stock quotes, the weather, credit-card numbers, etc. They break when you change encodings. By contrast, most of the proliferation of XML vocabularies is at the application-specific level. The standards that middleware depends on include XML itself, DTDs/schemas, etc. Proliferation of alternatives to XML itself, DTDs, etc. would indeed limit interop. Yes, we occasionally need better schema languages, and yes we will occasionally need to see innovations in XMLP encodings, but there is a cost. Anyway, that's how I see the comparison. Thanks much. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Noah Mendelsohn Voice: 1-617-693-4036 Lotus Development Corp. Fax: 1-617-693-8676 One Rogers Street Cambridge, MA 02142 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
Received on Tuesday, 10 April 2001 19:48:22 UTC