Reserved names and documentation

[Jeffrey E. Sussna]

I understand that XML names starting in "xml" are reserved. My concern is how people find out what the defined reserved names are, without having to read every XML spec out there. I also have a related, larger concern that the XML universe will quickly become unmanageable. For example, to understand Microsoft's preview release of XML schemas, you need to understand XML Data and DCD. To understand DCD you have to understand RDF. And so on... All these ancillary specs are useful and worthwhile. It is clear that the XML language definition itself is necessary but not sufficient to do meaningful work. The danger is, though, that one will have to keep a pile of specs on one's desk in order to proceed. Perhaps this is no different than having to read several hundred pages of Toolbox Reference in order to write a Macintosh application. Nonetheless, I think it bears thought. Taken together, XML Data + RDF + ICE + WebDAV + whatever else represent a set of Web API's, with XML as the API definition language. Having worked with numerous large API's in the past (Smalltalk, Macintosh Toolbox, MacApp, Win32, etc.), I believe it's critical to try to make these Web API's as coherent and accessible as possible. I would like to encourage a meta-effort to examine and manage how all the generic (as opposed to vertical market) XML-based specs relate to one another.

Jeff

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Kuantech, Inc.                            http://www.kuantech.com
Jeffrey E. Sussna, Principal                     jes at kuantech.com

Distributed Content Architectures for Dynamic Online Applications
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