Archive of UserLand's first discussion group, started October 5, 1998.

Re: XML Namespaces difficulty

Author:David McCusker
Posted:8/29/2000; 10:46:16 AM
Topic:cam?
Msg #:20492 (In response to 20484)
Prev/Next:20491 / 20493

I'm answering in case it reduces some of the difficulty later.

Ken MacLeod: ...there was no substantive answer to the real question: Why are XML Namespaces difficult for some?

Personally I saw too much "do what I mean" in XML namespaces. I prefer crisper "do what I say" models I can later apply to get what I mean.

I took the time to study them for all of an hour or two, which is not a lot, but should have been enough to give me a good working model when I did that a few months ago.

The definitions I saw left me confused enough to see the meaning as alive and indeterminate, so it could shift when I least wanted it to do so. I like definitions so lifeless they are no longer interesting.

The design of reference IDs for object identity is always hard, but the designers have an obligation to produce a final spec which is totally unambiguous. It's not an identity system otherwise.

I understand the general intent of namespaces, but general intent is not enough for me to code a deterministic symbol space that I know will have identical semantics with every other implementor's system.

I expect XML namespaces are easy to grasp for folks who are happy with a loose, first cut explanation, because they don't intend to go down into quantum mechanics level plumbing in computing infrastructure.

But for anyone who wants to reduce namespaces to dry and lifeless math (so they can keep all the juicy parts in problems being solved) any amount of controversy or confusion or ambiguity in definitions is either a show stopper, and a nagging worry that never ends.

I offer this in a constructive spirit. If more exact definitions would help, then try that. Or if I am mistaken and it's all simplicity if I would only see it, then don't let folks like me get confused by the appearance of ambiguity and controversy in unfinished definitions.

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