Re: XML Java API Standardization

Tim Bray (tbray@textuality.com)
Thu, 19 Jun 1997 10:36:42 -0700

If you want a full-featured API that is going to interoperate for
SGML and XML docs as well, the grove is the only way to go, so there
is no need to have this discussion here on that subject. What we're
trying to do is, specifically for the case of Java XML processors, which
evidence would suggest are going to be large in number and relatively
lightweight, is simply to give them some shared machinery as regards
elements and attributes.

For this kind of purpose, I think the grove formalism is massive
overkill; right now people can whip off XML parsers in a week, if
we require them to master grove plans and property sets and so on,
we're tripling the amount of time that has to be invested.

At 12:20 PM 19/06/97 -0400, Peter Newcomb wrote:
>As the SGML property set has already been published (in DSSSL, and
>soon in the HyTime 2nd Edition) and is in use, I suggest that it be
>used as a terminology reference for new SGML and XML interface
>design.

This is part of the problem; last time I looked, the SGML property
set was over 75 pages in length, and most of what it contains is
just not interesting for XML parsers.

If we could just agree, specifically for Java, how to talk to a
few basic things (Element, Attribute, etc), this would be a huge
step forward. -Tim