Summary: Encodings other than base64

In belated fulfillment of my action item to "Summarise args regarding
accomadating encodings other than base64":

The current discussion was kicked off by Mark Nottingham asking the
question [1] in his fulfillment of an action item.

The arguments for accommodating encodings other than base64 that
followed that post are:

 - base64, while popular, is decidedly "old-tech" [2]

 - Special applications (high performance, low-bandwidth, etc.) are
   likely to have different needs. [2]

 - ...relate this to the ongoing analysis of the XQuery/XPath data
   model.  That model provides for all legal schema types. [3]


Arguments against encodings other than base64 are:

 - One might take the view that optimizing more than one type
   encourages one to send the actual type label as part of the
   model. [3]

 - MTOM provides for a specific kind of optimization, namely
   serializing particular things as raw binary in separate parts of a
   multipart/related package. I think the notion of a binary XML is in
   a completely different space. [4]

   (Responding to the 'binary XML' mention in [2])


And on the fence:

 - The key question, to me, is whether or not it's desirable to always 
   surface the encoding/type information in the Infoset. [5]


Regards,


Tony Graham
------------------------------------------------------------------------
XML Technology Center - Dublin
Sun Microsystems Ireland Ltd                       Phone: +353 1 8199708
Hamilton House, East Point Business Park, Dublin 3            x(70)19708


[1] http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/xml-dist-app/2003Jul/0061.html
[2] http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/xml-dist-app/2003Jul/0063.html
[3] http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/xml-dist-app/2003Jul/0066.html
[4] http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/xml-dist-app/2003Jul/0071.html
[5] http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/xml-dist-app/2003Jul/0068.html

Received on Tuesday, 30 September 2003 21:10:19 UTC