XML Java API Standardization

Peter Newcomb peter at techno.com
Fri Jun 20 00:53:59 BST 1997


> For this kind of purpose, I think the grove formalism is massive 
> overkill; right now people can whip off XML parsers in a week, if
> we require them to master grove plans and property sets and so on,
> we're tripling the amount of time that has to be invested.

I am not suggesting that writers of parsers learn or implement
anything about groves.  I am suggesting that the writers of the
standard XML parser interface should learn and use the names defined
by the SGML property set for those things (i.e. elements, attributes,
etc.) that XML and SGML have in common.

> At 12:20 PM 19/06/97 -0400, Peter Newcomb wrote:
> >As the SGML property set has already been published (in DSSSL, and
> >soon in the HyTime 2nd Edition) and is in use, I suggest that it be
> >used as a terminology reference for new SGML and XML interface
> >design.
> 
> This is part of the problem; last time I looked, the SGML property
> set was over 75 pages in length, and most of what it contains is
> just not interesting for XML parsers.  

The SGML property set source (the 75+ pages of SGML) is best read by a
machine and formatted for human consumption.  Alex's grove guide is an
example of this.

Also, the parts of the SGML property set that do not apply to XML
parsers are easily pruned.  A grove plan that specifies this pruning
is in the works, but as a start, try ignoring everything after the
first three modules (baseabs, prlgabs0, and instabs).

I've temporarily created a browseable rendition of these modules (and
only these modules) at "http://www.techno.com/~peter/sgml-esis/".  The
HTML generation software I used to do this is not quite done yet, but
I hope these pages will be useful anyway.  The most notable problem is
that I have not yet written the code to generate descriptive pages for
modules.

(If there are other problems, or you have suggestions on how to
improve the format or enhance its usefulness, please tell me; I'll be
using this software to produce browseable renditions of the complete
SGML and HyTime property sets for the upcoming HyTime user's group
site.)

-peter

--
Peter Newcomb                           TechnoTeacher, Inc.
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