cliki changes + opinions + XML

[Massimo Dentico]

Hi Pietro.

schizophonic@tiscali.it wrote:
 > [..]
 > Unfortunately my changes still are not logged : (

Well, your changes are logged, see the link to an .rdf file
on the node "Recent Changes"

    - http://cliki.tunes.org:8000/recent-changes.rdf

but they are not visible on the node itself.

 > [..]
 > Back to XML: for what I know it is just a metalanguage for defining
 > Dyck languages, and thus should have *only* syntactic annoyances,
 > unless you are also referring to XSL. But I admit I have almost NO
 > knowledge of such a horrible thing as XML.
 >
 > Pietro

Unfortunately it is not so. First of all a (meta-)language without
semantic is useless. As Erik Naggum, on comp.lang.lisp, noted:

    Structure is nothing if it is all you got. Skeletons spook
    people if [they] try to walk around on their own. I really
    wonder why XML does not.

This came from a person which was the maintainer of the SGML
repository at the University of Oslo for nearly 6 years (and
a Lisp expert). See also the quote of Rita Knox toward the
bottom of the page.

Then I added a note near the top of the page:

    The big problem with XML and relatives, besides the stupid
    syntax [but see below Erik Naggum on SGML syntax], is that
    **they are no more intended only as an interchange format but
    as a data model.** [Review W3C XML Query, XPath, ..]

Anyway if something is obscure I accept suggestions or
requests of clarification (ROC?? No, please .. not yet
another Internet acronym!!) ;-)

Regards.

-- 
Massimo Dentico