Re: XML-Data: advantages over DTD syntax?

len bullard (cbullard@hiwaay.net)
Tue, 30 Sep 1997 18:40:27 -0500


Rob McDougall wrote:
>
> If I remember correctly, the advantages are listed in the spec. The main
> advantage being that you can include the XML-Data definition within the XML
> file itself, so that you now can send a completely self-describing file
> that can be read by a single (XML) parser.
>
> Rob
>

Umm... You can include an SGML Declaration, DTD and instance in a
single file and it is a completely self-describing file read by a
single parser. I don't think that is the advantage of the Microsoft
approach. I think you can do it with a simpler parser; however, the
tradeoff is a harder to read schema, so a single parser writer (or
several) gain on a few hours of effort but the user of the schema
loses. If that *is* the tradeoff, it isn't much of a bargain.

len bullard
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