Re: A searchable datastructure for represeting attributes?

Niall Litchfield doodled thusly:

>wise words indeed.
>

Yes, agreed.

>> But if people begin using xml in a way that blurs the distinction between
>> metadata and data,
>> they may end up with documents that are "self describing" only when the
>xml
>> rules are supplemented by some kind of private understanding between the
>> author and the reader. That necessity for a private understanding is what
>> eventually causes a breakdown in intelligibility.

And isn't that what ultimately XML is supposed to be? I don't remember seeing any associated "relational" or other data-wise description implicit in the definition of XML.

It is mostly a way of defining a set of data according to a set of rules that is not necessarily itself defined in XML. Hence the DTD and such. In a way, almost a re-hash of the old BNF, applied to data.

Not necessarily a replacement for databases. Be they relational, OO, hierarchical or whatever.

Cheers
Nuno Souto
nsouto_at_optushome.com.au.nospam Received on Fri Mar 01 2002 - 11:04:22 CET