Ghislain wrote:
> the element's name is a qualified name (QName) with a local
> name "Publisher", a namespace "http://www.book.org" and an
> empty prefix
Thank you Ghislain. That is very good.
I'd like to give a slight twist to my question.
Consider again this instance document element:
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<Publisher xmlns="http://www.book.org">______</Publisher>
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I often hear people say things like this:
The Publisher element is in the http://www.book.org namespace
I certainly understand what that is trying to say, but I suspect that if one wishes to use correct/precise terminology then it is unacceptable.
So what is the correct/precise terminology when describing the relationship between Publisher and the http://www.book.org namespace?
The namespace specification says that namespace prefixes are "bound" to namespaces. Are local names also bound to namespaces? Upon reviewing the namespace specification, it wasn't clear. Is this a correct/precise statement:
The element's local name, "Publisher", is bound to the http://www.book.org namespace
XML Schema uses different terminology. It talks about properties. I believe that from an XML Schema perspective this is a correct/precise statement:
The element has a name property with the value "Publisher" and a namespace property with the value "http://www.book.org"
SUMMARY
With respect to this instance document element:
----------------------------------------------------------
<Publisher xmlns="http://www.book.org">______</Publisher>
----------------------------------------------------------
both of these statements use correct/precise terminology:
(1) The element's local name, "Publisher", is bound to the http://www.book.org namespace
(2) The element has a name property with the value "Publisher" and a namespace property with the value "http://www.book.org"
and all of these statements use incorrect/imprecise terminology:
(a) The Publisher element belongs to the http://www.book.org namespace
(b) The Publisher element is in the http://www.book.org namespace
(c) The Publisher element is associated with the http://www.book.org namespace
Do you agree?
PHILOSOPHICAL QUESTION
Is clarity of thought proportional to precision of terminology?
/Roger
