Scripting and XML

[Paul Prescod]

Simeon Simeonov wrote:
> This is a good direction. However, I see a potential inconvenience for
> scripts that directly modify the document. Embedded scripts implicitly
> identify the part of the document they operate on with their position.
> External scripts will have to explicitly specify the part they operate on.

More likely, I expect the opposite. The parts of the scripts that need
to be "operated upon" will identify themselves just as they do for
presentation. Let's say you have a form field that validates sin numbers
(in Canada, we report sins to the government at least once a year). You
shouldn't have to say this:

<INPUT TYPE="TEXT" OnChange="blah;blah;blah;blah;blah">

nor even this:

<INPUT TYPE="TEXT" OnChange="CallBlah()">

But rather this:

<INPUT TYPE="TEXT" CLASS="SIN_NUMBER_VALIDATOR">

or even this:

<SIN_NUMBER_VALIDATOR>

To me this seems blindingly analogous to the move from this: <I> to
this: <EM STYLE="Italics"> to this: <EM CLASS="WARNING"> to this:
<WARNING>.

 Paul Prescod

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