"Clean Specs"

[Murray Maloney]

At 08:58 PM 2/7/99 -0500, Borden, Jonathan wrote:
>	Is the problem here the content of the namespace spec or the way it is
>written? It seems to me that people who feel that the spec is a compromise,
>or wish the spec specified something different, are unhappy. If you really
>don't understand the spec, how can you claim it is a ramshackle compromise?
>I suspect that you understand it and don't like it.
>
>	The problem doesn't appear to be the way the spec is written and a
>professional writer won't solve that problem.

I can claim that it is a ramshackle compromise because I was 
witness to its creation. The process stunk to high heaven.
The result is an awful compromise, and not because I don't
like it.

As I have said before, the "Namespaces in XML" spec would have
more properly been named "Namespaces in RDF". Then I might be
able to understand it. It is not the words in the spec that
I do not understand. It is that I cannot fathom the logic
that holds it together.

For example, an appendix purports to describe a fictional XML namespace 
in which there exist "global" attributes which *cannot* be found in XML 
-- I defy you to locate a *global* attribute in XML. Or how about names
that do not exist in any namespace? Is there an XML namespace or not?

Sure, there are parts of the spec that I do not like. And I have
done what I could to effect change. But the spec as a whole is
not something that I can explain, justify and motivate.

Regards,

Murray


Murray Maloney, Esq.          Phone: (905) 509-9120
Muzmo Communication Inc.      Fax:   (905) 509-8637
671 Cowan Circle              Email: murray at muzmo.com
Pickering, Ontario 		Email: murray at yuri.org
Canada, L1W 3K6    		

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