RE: Formalism in SOAP spec

Thanks for the pointer, although I was already aware of the document.
There are several issues here however.  First aside from the fact that
this document defines yet another set of arkane notation and doesn't
apparently consider the use of EBNF.  The document seems quite out of
date, see the first comment in appendix B.

"This document is based on the syntax of XML Schema in the proposed
recommendation draft. The Formalization Taskforce will continue in
operation until XML Schema becomes a recommendation."

Note: XML Schema went from draft to recommendation in May, this document
is from September.

Also the abstract says:
"XML Schema: Formal Description is a formal description of XML types and
validity as specified by XML Schema Part 1: Structures."

Note: That is only 1/3 of the standard because there is a part 0 and a
part 2.

The document has many "red lines" and "strikeouts" leading one to
believe that this is a work in progress.  Furthermore since it is not
"the standard"  then I would be dubious about using it for fear of
"drift" or "lag" between the two documents. 

Now if the W3C were to say: http://www.w3.org/TR/xmlschema-formal/ is
the standard, the whole standard, the only standard and nothing but the
standard.  Then maybe it would be worth considering, but that does not
appear to be the case.

Matthew Jones
mjones@netsilicon.com


> -----Original Message-----
> From: Noah_Mendelsohn@lotus.com [mailto:Noah_Mendelsohn@lotus.com]
> Sent: Wednesday, November 14, 2001 12:41 PM
> To: Jones, Matthew
> Cc: henrikn@microsoft.com; MacAndrew, Tim; xml-dist-app@w3.org
> Subject: RE: Formalism in SOAP spec
> 
> 
> Regarding formal description of XML Schema, are you aware of 
> [1]?  Thanks.
> 
> [1] http://www.w3.org/TR/xmlschema-formal/
> 
> --------------------------------------------------------------
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> Noah Mendelsohn                                    Voice: 
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> Lotus Development Corp.                            Fax: 1-617-693-8676
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Received on Wednesday, 14 November 2001 16:38:46 UTC