Feeler for SML (Simple Markup Language)

[Matthew Gertner]

To me this post is a perfect illustration of why something like SML is
not necessary or desirable. In terms of necessity, it seems more than
likely that embedded and handheld devices are going to work with a
specific XML application (e.g. WML) rather than providing generic XML
processing services. So as long as this application does not use the
features listed in Don's original post, the issues of memory consumption
and processing speed vanish (and I am sceptical as to how significant
these issues would be anyway). In the event, WML uses comments and CDATA
but no processing instructions.

In terms of desirability, Tim hit the nail on the head. Bifurcating into
two distinct languages can only be a bad thing for the overall impact of
XML. The risk of confusion is simply too high. As several others have
pointed out, the existence of too many varying levels of conformance (de
facto if not de jure) and optional features in SGML was the primary
motivation for inventing XML in the first place.

Matthew

Robert La Quey wrote:
> OK, enough lurking. I would like to pick this thread back up
> from the beginning and restart the discussion with a call for
> opinions from another crowd who seem (to me) conspicuously missing
> from the discussion. Are there any other lurkers in
> this group who have interest in the HDML->WML->XML=SML story?
> 
> i.e. XML from the point of view of a very small systems (embedded)
> perspective. I think the SGML->XML crowd has pretty well stated
> their reasons for disliking SML. My own opinion is this. SML will
> happen (perhaps as WML, perhaps as many SMLs, a 1000 flowers bloom)
> as a de facto reality in arenas where fast product time to market
> and young engineers dominate the scene.
> 
> As for lots of users. Ha! The largest cell phone community is already
> China with 25 Million users (UTF-8???). So the SML question they pose,
> while very different from the SGML world of woe and complexity, is perhaps
> of some importance.
> 
> Is the overlap into the XML world worth pursuing or should the WML
> world just go its own way?
> 
> Comments?
> 
> Bob La Quey

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