Back in the days (ca. 1997) when XML was bright and shiny it had
three components:
- XML Core (I think this was the term)
- XML Style (now XSL-*)
- XML Link
I was optimistic and naive enough to believe that XLink was going to
happen in the same way as the first two (which IMO are great
successes). I assumed that it would acquire toolkits like the first
two. I personally hacked quite a lot of code to support XLink at a
prototype level. There are even examples in CML. I have been very
disappointed that it hasn't really happened.
I need XLink for semantic relationships. I assumed that these were
implied in it as well as "rendering". From the recent discussion it
seems semantics is in a minority. When everyone talks about the
S/semantic W/web
we are still obsessed with sighted humans.
As a result I have had to implement my own linking structure in CML.
(Yes, I also use RDF, but it isn't cuddly). I need a strongly typed
bidirectional link (i.e. the link knows what the type of the element
is at the end). I want to point from an <atom> to a <molecule> and
know that the link will check the target is of the correct type.
So I waited for an XLink toolkit. (It didn't have to be bloated like
so many of the modern XML specs and tools.) None appeared. So I have
had to do it all myself - the spec, the examples, the semantics, the
code. What a waste of my time to end up with a system incompatible
with anything else.
P.
Peter Murray-Rust
Unilever Centre for Molecular Sciences Informatics
University of Cambridge,
Lensfield Road, Cambridge CB2 1EW, UK
+44-1223-763069
