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  • To: <michael.h.kay@n...>,"Elliotte Rusty Harold" <elharo@m...>,"Uche Ogbuji" <uche.ogbuji@f...>
  • Subject: RE: ANN: xpath1() scheme for XPointer
  • From: "Dare Obasanjo" <dareo@m...>
  • Date: Mon, 28 Oct 2002 10:24:43 -0800
  • Cc: <xml-dev@l...>
  • Thread-index: AcJ+rfRI/cgNYJeGRhGdM8QStdiF9wAAF/YU
  • Thread-topic: ANN: xpath1() scheme for XPointer

That's a bad simplification. No one is debating short & ambiguous spec vs. long & detailed spec. 
 
Secondly, the data model is probably the only part of XPath 2.0 that doesn't have fundamental issues and seems to have received little (if any) complaint from any of the knowledgeable people who have taken a look at it. All in all, bad examples in your email. 
 
The question is really whether we want 
 
1.) Consistent and simple yet limited specs (lack of string manipulation functions in XPath is such a gross oversight)
 
or 
 
2.) Inconsistent and complex specs that try to be everything to everybody but fall far short (W3C XML Schema, possibly XQuery)
 
The interesting correlation is that the size of the working groups for both classes of specs are significantly different. 

	-----Original Message----- 
	From: Michael Kay [mailto:michael.h.kay@n...] 
	Sent: Mon 10/28/2002 10:18 AM 
	To: 'Elliotte Rusty Harold'; 'Uche Ogbuji' 
	Cc: xml-dev@l... 
	Subject: RE:  ANN: xpath1() scheme for XPointer
	
	

	> OK, since you asked for it, here are some of the sections of XPath
	> and XSLT specs which I think only make sense if you understand the
	> input tree to have a direct connection to the actual XML document:
	
	
	Perhaps I should ask for a vote: do people on this list prefer the
	simple 3-page James Clark description of the XPath 1.0 data model, with
	all these inherent ambiguities, or the complex 30-page committee-written
	description of the XPath 2.0 data model, which attempts to eliminate all
	such ambiguities by diving into layers of abstraction and formalism?
	
	I get the impression you lot can't make your minds up.
	
	Michael Kay
	Software AG
	home: Michael.H.Kay@n...
	work: Michael.Kay@s...
	
	
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