I usually don't top post, but this is a general comment -- not  
responding to anyone in particular.

It depends who/what is using the XML. Is an XSL document declarative  
or passive? What is XSL to an something like oXygen XML editor when a  
user is editing that XSL? What is an XSL doc that you transform it to  
another XSL doc?

What is this document:

<div>
   <youtube ref="some-youtube-id"/>
</div>

which, when transformed according to some set of rules, becomes  
javascript to trigger a video to display on a page or ask you to get  
at least a certain version of Flash and displays a GIF.

Is an Atom/RSS document declarative or passive?

-Rob


On Jun 2, 2009, at 7:51 PM, B Tommie Usdin wrote:

> At 7:01 PM -0400 6/2/09, Costello, Roger L. wrote:
>> I want to identify those characteristics that make an XML document  
>> declarative and those characteristics that make an XML document  
>> passive.
>
> This, I think, could be interesting and useful. The more we know  
> about our documents, the better. It seems likely that this  
> differences, like other differences, may define categories of  
> documents that behave, or should be managed, differently.
>
> At 7:01 PM -0400 6/2/09, Costello, Roger L. wrote:
>> Assertion: declarativity is a quality that is good and desirable  
>> and should be maximized.
>
> I would rephrase:
>
> Assertion: there are circumstances in which highly declarative  
> documents are appropriate and valuable.
>
> Assertion: there are circumstances in which algorithmic documents  
> are appropriate and valuable.
>
>>
>> Assertion: passivity is a quality that is good and desirable and  
>> should be maximized.
>
> Assertion: there are circumstances in which passive documents are  
> valuable, and in those circumstances documents should be engineered  
> for maximum passivity.
>
> Assertion: there are circumstances in which active documents are  
> valuable, and in those circumstances documents should be engineered  
> for maximum activity.
>
>>
>> Assertion: by measuring its declarativity and passivity we can  
>> assess the goodness of an XML document.
>
> Assertion: by locating a document (or collection of documents, or  
> perhaps a document type) on both the active/passive and declarative/ 
> algorithmic scales we probably describe some important features of  
> the documents.
>
>> Assertion: the goodness of an XML document is a function of its  
>> declarativity and passivity.
>
> Assertion: the goodness of an XML document is a function of the  
> appropriateness of its design to its intended use(s). Levels of  
> declarativity and passivity may be important clues to a document's  
> fitness to purpose.
>
> -- Tommie


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