Only accidentally. The charter of XML is to provide a way to
communicate SGML over the Web. XML is designed for documents. That
it is applicable to data modeling is a happy convenience, and should
not be considered a restriction on the language.
> and the distinction between attributes and content which made sense
> in the SGML world is extremely perplexing to those with a background
> in data modelling and data structure design in other domains, who
> are legitimate members of the XML community.
Only accidentally. XML is for *documents*, where the distinction
makes a whole lot of sense. And it *does* make sense for some kinds
of data modeling: if the datum has internal structure, use subelements
or mixed content; if it's a quantum, use an attribute. If you're not
sure what it will be, use mixed content for flexibility.
-Chris
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