Compound Documents - necessary for success?

[Mark Birbeck]

Chris von See wrote:
> Without a DTD or schema on which to "hang your hat", so to 
> speak, you're
> vesting the application with the knowledge of what the various
> namespace-qualified constructs mean.  This strikes me as a 
> Very Bad Thing,
> because it leaves individual applications to interpret (potentially,
> interpret very differently) what a particular attribute or 
> element means.

[and]

> Generating a specific meaning and rules for usage for a 
> particular DTD or
> schema isn't "automagic", but at least it forces people to 
> think about what
> they're doing and lends some semblance of order.

All a DTD can do is say something about the structure of a document. If
someone wants to write an application that uses your CD collection data
as a basis for their long-term investment plans on, you - and your DTD -
can't stop them, other than by keeping the data to yourself.

Mark Birbeck
Managing Director
Intra Extra Digital Ltd.
39 Whitfield Street
London
W1P 5RE
w: http://www.iedigital.net/
t: 0171 681 4135
e: Mark.Birbeck at iedigital.net


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