Re: Encouragement to commit to partnering with XML Schema datatypes

[Aron Roberts <aron@socrates.Berkeley.EDU>]

In the message "Re: Encouragement to commit to partnering with XML 
Sche", dated 2001-06-05, Michael Smith wrote:

>Isn't datatype interoperability is an issue only for RELAX NG
>implementations, not for the language itself -- since it doesn't have a
>datatype system of its own? Wording in the current tutorial[1] draft is:
>
>   RELAX NG allows patterns to reference externally-defined datatypes,
>   such as those defined by W3C XML Schema Part 2. RELAX NG
>   implementations may differ in what datatypes they support. You must
>   use datatypes that are supported by the implementation you plan to use.
>
>So seems the language itself could be described as "datatype neutral".
>
>[1] http://www.thaiopensource.com/relaxng/tutorial.html#c41b1b6

   Agreed; many thanks for pointing this out.  A short time after 
writing my earlier note, I browsed the list archives, noted James 
Clark's tutorial, and also came across this.  Mea culpa.

   The RELAX NG home page currently states that this emerging schema 
language "can partner with a separate datatyping language (such W3C 
XML Schema Datatypes)."  Perhaps this could be clarified to reflect 
RELAX NG's flexibility; such alternative wording might look something 
like the following:

   "... can partner with the user's choice of a separate datatyping
   language (such as W3C XML Schema Datatypes)."

   Also, there may still be merit in encouraging the use of XML Schema 
Part 2 datatypes in RELAX NG implementations and in providing 
examples of such use, much as is done in the current version of the 
tutorial.

Aron Roberts  Workstation Software Support Group . 221 Evans Hall
               University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720-3808 USA
               aron@socrates.berkeley.edu . +1 510-642-5974 . fax 510-643-5385