Thinking XML: State of the Art in XML Modeling
By Uche Ogbuji2005-05-16
What do developers need to know about the various approaches to semantic transparency?
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The running theme of the column has been semantic transparency: the ability to correctly interpret the contents of XML documents. Semantic transparency might be the most important aspect of XML modeling. This is first in a series of articles that review the many different approaches to semantic transparency and discuss what they mean to developers using XML.
This is the 30th installment of the Thinking XML column. It is almost exactly four years since the first article, and in retrospect I'm amazed by the flight of time and the march of events since then. The activity associated with XML has been tremendous, and I hope some of it has been apparent in the range of topics covered in this column. This activity has been especially interesting in the use of XML for knowledge management technologies, which is the focus of this column. In the first installment -- in February 2001 -- I discussed the goal of XML semantic transparency, which I think is the most important aspect of XML data modeling. Throughout this column, I've considered different approaches to semantic transparency. For this installment, I'll kick off a short series of articles that provide an overview of some interesting technologies and techniques for semantic transparency, offering my opinion on the state of the art. I'll break this series into three parts:
- Using informal descriptions in formal schemata (this article)
- Using schema standardization for top-down semantic transparency
- Using semantic anchors within schemata for bottom-up semantic transparency
Tutorial Pages:
» What do developers need to know about the various approaches to semantic transparency?
» Formal schemata, informal transparency
» A prominent red herring
» Wrap-up
» Resources
First published by IBM DeveloperWorks
