On Sat, 2005-01-01 at 23:28 -0500, Amelia A Lewis wrote:

> WXS hasn't got a type *system*.  It contains a collection of "simple"
> types, which includes, for example, nine different unrelated types
> associated with dates, times, and durations, three numeric types (four
> if you include boolean) which are unrelated, two encoded byte-stream
> types which are not related to one another, the obscure NOTATION type,
> string, two types (qname and anyuri) which arguably ought to be subtypes
> of string (unless they're separately typed because they act as pointers
> within XML, in which case one could wish for some relation between them,
> somehow), no expanded name type, no types associated with currency, no
> consistency, rhyme, reason, or evident method.

Right.  And I can't help observing that this is the mess we get from
twenty reams of specious formalism.

Aside: I get spiky on this topic because there are too many lecturers on
vague formalisms, and they apparently don't care that the basic "type
system" that makes up this emperor's new clothes is a tattered mess.


> So, there's my payment, can I go over the bridge now, please?

Coins on the eyes mean Charon's got the prize.

Happy New Year, Amy.


-- 
Uche Ogbuji                                    Fourthought, Inc.
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Use CSS to display XML - http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/edu/x-dw-x-xmlcss-i.html
Full XML Indexes with Gnosis - http://www.xml.com/pub/a/2004/12/08/py-xml.html
Be humble, not imperial (in design) - http://www.adtmag.com/article.asp?id=10286
UBL 1.0 - http://www-106.ibm.com/developerworks/xml/library/x-think28.html
Use Universal Feed Parser to tame RSS - http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/xml/library/x-tipufp.html
Default and error handling in XSLT lookup tables - http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/xml/library/x-tiplook.html
A survey of XML standards - http://www-106.ibm.com/developerworks/xml/library/x-stand4/
The State of Python-XML in 2004 - http://www.xml.com/pub/a/2004/10/13/py-xml.html