Why XML data typing is hard (was Re: Internal subset equivalent in new schema proposals?)

[david at megginson.com]

Murray Maloney writes:

 > Essentially you are saying that since it would be possible to
 > design poorly with a given set of tools, we should not provide
 > these design tools.

No, I think that Murray has misunderstood -- I'm trying to manage
expectations by explaining that the XML data-typing problem is far
more difficult than a typical anglophone North American SQL specialist
might expect, and that the potential rewards are smaller than people
might hope.

I will happily use data-typing once it's approved, but I don't imagine
that it will generate more than a tiny, incremental gain in my
productivity or in the integrity of my information (with database
programming, you always end up writing the hard validations by hand
anyway).

And, of course, any data-typing standard blessed by the XML-Syntax WG
will have to be fully Internationalised -- a standard that works only
for English-speaking Perl hackers in the Silicon Valley needs to be
designed by Perl hackers in the Silicon Valley, not by the W3C.


All the best,


David

-- 
David Megginson                 david at megginson.com
           http://www.megginson.com/

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