[gmpi] Re: Topic 7.1: Channel Formats / XML, Profiles

  • From: Paul Davis <paul@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: gmpi@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Date: Wed, 04 Jun 2003 21:11:32 -0400

>>Think of SGML v's XML. SGML supported /everything/ whereas XML supports
>>the bare minimum of functionality. Because SGML was so complex it never
>>took off. In 5 years XML has got massively wider adoption that SGML did in
>>20.
>
>XML is the example that proves why parameterization does not kill 
>standardization efforts, but rather reinforces them, and is therefore 
>worth the trouble.  In fact, XML is -highly- parameterized, which is 
>its strength, and the key to its ability to adapt tightly and 
>appropriately to many different applications, and that (in addition 
>to human/machine readability) is exactly why it's successful, and why 
>it'll probably be a stable, durable basis for products for many years 
>to come.  We could learn from XML.

chris - sorry, but this is completely missing steve's point.

compared to SGML, XML is a highly constrained and from some points of
view, an almost inadequate system. yet as steve notes, XML has been
more successful in 2 years than SGML has been in 20. the question is
not whether to use parameters, its how, when and where to use
them. XML picked the right set, or at least a much "more right" set
than SGML did.

>In XML, there is no such thing as a generalized XML parser; XML is 

not really true. libxml is a generalized XML parser, and there are
others. i think you mean that XML is merely a grammar in the same way
that lex and bison are grammars that can be used to build other things
on top. the actions that are taken when an XML file is read cannot be
generalized, but the actions are based on a generalized parser that
identifies semantically distinct entities from the input data stream.


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