What is a namespace ... really?

[Roger L. Costello]

James Tauber wrote:

>>(2) A namespace is a URI to a DTD.
>
>No. It doesn't have to be at all (although it *could* be and a URI for a
DTD
>is as good a URI as any and better than most)

What good is a namespace if it *doesn't* reference a DTD?

e.g.,

<BookCatalogue xmlns="http://anywhere-is-fine">
   ...
</BookCatalogue>

There is no way for a parser to validate the stuff between <BookCatalogue>
and </BookCatalogue>.  It seems like the *main* benefit to be gained from
using namespaces should be the ability for an XML document to reuse other
DTDs and validate against those DTDs, i.e., your document becomes an
assembly of independently validated elements from various DTDs.  /Roger


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