Re: [xtm-wg] Re: Portal Markup Language and Topic Map Template

[Sam Hunting <sam_hunting@yahoo.com>]

> Since Topic Maps are based on Architectural Forms, I would think the 
> same benefits mentioned above would also apply when comparing the 
> current form of PML (a DTD) with a Topic Maps based solution.  Also, 
> since AF is not necessary the best implementation approach, TM 
> template may be a better solution.
> 
> I wonder what the TM experts (e.g., Michel & Steve) and AF experts 
> (e.g., Eliot & Steven) think about this...

Agreed on benefits. 

As far as "template" vs AF: at bottom we have a contractual issue --
two or more parties come to an agreement on the semantics of an
information set.

That is what happens, explicitly or implicitly, during interchange.

If the agreement is explicit, and the syntax of the agreement is stable
and formal, then the contract is (a) much more likely to be executed
without problems, and (b) the responsibility for problems is much more
likely to be clear.

AFs enable explicit agreements using a stable (ISO) formalism. If
"templates" are based on a formalism that is not so stable, than the
agreements based on them are also less likely to be stable.

What I wonder is if there is a way to have the best in both worlds
(stability and implementation), by expressing the templates in RELAX
syntax, since RELAX is to be fast-tracked at ISO, and perhaps can get
around some of the limitations of DTD syntax.

Any thoughts from the experts?

S.

P.S. I also wish to state how useful AFs have been in my own work. 

I just got through XML-izing the AECMA 1000D DTDs. Among other things,
I changed the tag names to be English-like ("efy" vs. "effectivity").
The writers and implementors love this, because it takes the initial
sting of learning a new DTD language away. 

But because I used AFs, I can always claim, AND PROVE (ie, base a
contract on) that my revised AECMA DTDs are conform architecturally to
AECMA 1000D.



=====
<? "To imagine a language is to imagine a form of life."
    -- Ludwig Wittgenstein, Philosophical Investigations ?>

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