Implied best practices (was Re: How namespace names might be used)

At 08:53 AM 6/13/00 -0500, Dan Connolly wrote:
>| But isn't the reason people don't want to think of a namespace as a
>| resource because people they see it as a slippery slope to
>| proprietorizing XML: when Microsoft said that BizTalk namespace URIs
>| locate a schema in a particular format, that means that in order to
>use
>| a Biztalk document one has to buy into the schema language (i.e., the
>| products) that it requires. 
>
>No, it means that you *either* have to use the schema language
>that the namespace designer chose (which may require using
>certain products) *or* you use schemaLocation or any number
>of other mechanisms to find a schema of your own choosing.
>
>How is being *prevented* from using the namespace URI to
>find the namespace designer's default schema better than
>being allowed to?

I'll just address this point.

I don't think the namespaces specification should "*prevent*" users from
using the namespace URI to find the "namespace designer's default schema".

I do, however, think it would be wise for the W3C to refrain from making
any such moves on its own site, and to refrain from building any
infrastructure that assumes the namespace URI identifies such information.
At this point, it's not clear that such practices are in fact 'a good
thing', nor has that issue in particular been addressed by a formal W3C
Working Group and endorsed as a recommendation.

W3C practice - like "cool URIs don't change" - is often taken as "the way
to do things" whether or not the practice has been formally endorsed.  In
this case, I'm concerned that taking such steps on the W3C allows the W3C
staff to make statements about best practices without formally consulting
the membership.

Given the problems we've already had on this list with NOTEs written by
staff and the director receiving the status of 'axioms' and 'principles',
I'd suggest that it might be easier for all concerned if we slowed down a
little and let the formal process address these concerns directly.  While I
have concerns about that process, it has the advantage of requiring more
consideration than staff moving ahead and changing the site.


Simon St.Laurent
XML Elements of Style / XML: A Primer, 2nd Ed.
Building XML Applications
Inside XML DTDs: Scientific and Technical
Cookies / Sharing Bandwidth
http://www.simonstl.com

Received on Tuesday, 13 June 2000 10:10:06 UTC