Query Languages for XML

[W. Eliot Kimber]

At 12:17 PM 11/17/97 -0500, Joe Lapp wrote:
>"Martin Bryan" <mtbryan at sgml.u-net.com> wrote:
>>This presumes that the "document" is the thing you want to remove. What if:
>>
>>a) the document was built from a set of entities?
>>b) only part of the document consisted of updatable data fields?
>>
>>The key factor is "what proportion of the data needs to be modified?"

>I think I've just discovered that we are both arguing for the same
>thing.  My point is exactly that the _document_ is not the smallest
>unit we care to change.  I just meant to point out that because we
>care for finer granularity, and because currently no standard exists
>for updating at arbitrary granularity, we need a standard.  

A standard *does* exist for defining the objects you might want to update:
the SGML property set (possibly reflected through the DOM).  Given this
definition, defining operations on it is a simple matter of programming.

Or said another way, you don't need a standard for the control language
(although it's useful to have one) if you have a standard for the data
model to be controlled.  

Cheers,

E.
--
<Address HyTime=bibloc>
W. Eliot Kimber, Senior Consulting SGML Engineer
Highland Consulting, a division of ISOGEN International Corp.
2200 N. Lamar St., Suite 230, Dallas, TX 95202.  214.953.0004
www.isogen.com
</Address>

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