Java class != XML entity

len bullard cbullard at hiwaay.net
Fri Aug 14 03:28:47 BST 1998


David Megginson wrote:

> The namespace URI is simply a unique prefix that can be shared by a
> collection of names -- it is not guaranteed to point to anything at
> all (some people wanted to *forbid* it from pointing to anything),

Hmm.  How is that better than having a Doctype root if subdocs 
were inlined?  I can understand it not pointing to anything but 
only in the context of how FPIs work in Doctypes.

So what am I to assume if I see a dt: prefix that has a classID 
in the ns attribute, and another that *appears* to point at 
a schema of some sort?

> nor
> is it guaranteed that all names with the same prefix are defined by
> the same schema (or by any explicit schema).

Outside a formal registry, I don't think that guarantee would 
work anyway as the long long long debates on URI/URN/URLs showed.

John Cowan writes:

>Not necessarily.  An ns attribute has an URI (URL or URN) as its
>value, but that URI doesn't have to point to anything in particular,
>as long as it's unique and syntactically valid.

Syntactically valid, OK.  Unique?  How is that enforced or proven?  Yes,
I 
watched the namespace debates.  It is hard to tell what the namespace is 
good for if the ns attribute is essentially a valid but purposeless bit
holder.

Ok, it *indicates* a scope.  ????  I realize something subtle is being 
defined, but maybe it is too subtle to be useful for much.

Consider me standing up to type...

If DCD isn't clearer than namespaces, than the HyTime drubbing 
goes down as one of the great crimes of critique.
Precision aside, if the concepts and tools are harder to 
figure out than SGML and HyTime, this time next year I 
won't be the only one with a sore bottom.  Wired and XavierMcLipps 
are watching. -)

Ah so... back to reading the XML pages at www.microsoft.com 
which for some reason are understandable and have working 
code with which to test them.  MSThralls rejoice.

Another names for a colonized document:  braid.

len















len bullard wrote:

> If wrong, kick me.  An ns attribute addresses a schema.



> PS:  I promise to read XML-Data ASAP.

Read DCD instead, it's shorter and clearer.

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