[topicmapmail] Announcement of XML Schema for ISO 13250 Topic Maps

[Michel Biezunski]

> This is the argument that the W3C uses to sell Schema too.  Users will
> never have to look at the underlying syntax.
>
> Yeah - right - until they get an error message and the whole thing
> stops processing and then they have no way of looking under the
> hood to determine why.
>
> Been there done that.
>
> I'm with Martin - keep it simple for the humans to do in the first place.
>
> DW.

This is not the case that the syntax in which topic maps are expressed
reflect the way information is processed. There is more than XML parsing
going on.
The XTM 1.0 is expressing explicitly what's happening under the cover
in the most detailed and unambiguous way.

No serious application can be done by users creating the topic map syntax
with
an XML editor. I have tried that several years ago, I can tell you that
nobody wants
that. There are much better, powerful, and easier ways to create topic maps.

There is one thing that simply can't be done if we stick with Martin's
solution: it would
become impossible to express topic maps in several languages, because there
would be no
way to express the occurrence roles, or association types, etc., in more
than one language.
All applications for the European Community for example would have to be
limited to
one language. This is not what most users want.

Michel
==========================================
Michel Biezunski, InfoLoom
Tel +33 1 44 59 84 29 Cell +33 6 03 99 25 29
Email: mb@infoloom.com  Web: www.infoloom.com
==========================================