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There's another school which holds that "syntax IS semantics". A DTD for X.509 certificates allows me to express what parts of the certificate I consider required, what parts of the certificate I consider optional, as well as the legal forms of the parts themselves. I can tell whether or not a certificate is valid, and also *why* (e.g. no signature algorithm name was provided, the "not after" date was malformed). I think that if I can answer "why" questions, I'm operating in the semantic realm. Meaning may only be conveyed (manifested?) in "running code or human-readable prose", but the meaning is latent in the syntax, and couldn't be conveyed if it wasn't already there. Ed Smierciak "Steven R. Newcomb" <srn@t...>@ic.ac.uk on 11/18/99 10:19:34 PM Please respond to "Steven R. Newcomb" <srn@t...> Sent by: owner-xml-dev@i... To: tbray@t... cc: xml-dev@i... Subject: Re: documenting schemas/DTDs [Tim Bray:] > DTD's and XML Schemas both are *just syntax* > dammit, and syntax is not interesting. XML, at the end of the day, is not > interesting. Messages that convey meaning are interesting. Meaning is > only conveyed by > > (a) running code, or > (b) human-readable prose. > > To generate (a), you have to have (b) first. > > End of the story. -Tim I too am moved to underline this sentiment. Hear! Hear! Hear! -Steve -- Steven R. Newcomb, President, TechnoTeacher, Inc. srn@t... http://www.techno.com ftp.techno.com voice: +1 972 517 7954 <<-- new phone number fax +1 972 517 4571 <<-- new fax number pager (150 characters max): srn-page@t... Suite 211 <<-- new address 7101 Chase Oaks Boulevard Plano, Texas 75025 USA xml-dev: A list for W3C XML Developers. To post, mailto:xml-dev@i... Archived as: http://www.lists.ic.ac.uk/hypermail/xml-dev/ and on CD-ROM/ISBN 981-02-3594-1 To unsubscribe, mailto:majordomo@i... the following message; unsubscribe xml-dev To subscribe to the digests, mailto:majordomo@i... the following message; subscribe xml-dev-digest List coordinator, Henry Rzepa (mailto:rzepa@i...) xml-dev: A list for W3C XML Developers. To post, mailto:xml-dev@i... Archived as: http://www.lists.ic.ac.uk/hypermail/xml-dev/ and on CD-ROM/ISBN 981-02-3594-1 To unsubscribe, mailto:majordomo@i... the following message; unsubscribe xml-dev To subscribe to the digests, mailto:majordomo@i... the following message; subscribe xml-dev-digest List coordinator, Henry Rzepa (mailto:rzepa@i...)
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