Re: [xml-dev] It's too late to improve XML ... lessons learned?
I was a latecomer in the XML WG, but here are my two cents.
Delaying the release of XML 1.0 might have made it more
complicated since there were very many requests for minor
extensions.
Some features of XML (most notably XML entities) could have
been removed from XML 1.0. But I do not think that entities
(with the exception of internal parsed entities) have caused
significant problems. Moreover, the SGML camp would have
rejected XML if entities had been removed from XML.
In his Turing award lecture (1980), Tony Hoare wrote:
When any new language design project is nearing completion,there is always a mad rush to get new features added beforestandardization. The rush is mad indeed, because it leads intoa trap from which there is no escape. A feature which is omittedcan always be added later, when its design and its implicationsare well understood. A feature which is included before it is fullyunderstood can never be removed later.
Regards,
Makoto
2021年12月29日(水) 2:44 Roger L Costello <[email protected]>:
Michael Kay wrote:
> we've learnt as a community that trying to improve XML
> doesn't work: the standard is too deeply embedded.
Yes, I can see that. On this very list there have been several attempts to improve XML and none of the attempts gained much traction.
So what is the lesson to be learned from this? How about this:
When creating a new standard, get it right in its
first version because if the standard is a success
you likely won't get a chance to improve it later on.
Is that the lesson to be learned? If so, how to ensure that you "get it right"? For instance, what could the XML Working Group have done differently to get it right? Should the XML Working Group have delayed the release of the XML standard for a year or two until a sizeable group of people had had the opportunity to work with XML and report on its warts?
/Roger
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慶應義塾大学政策・メディア研究科特任教授
村田 真