[Xml-bin] An attempt to sort things out [long]

[Stefan Zier]

> <?xml version='1.0' format='SAXbin' format-version='0.5b' ?>

I couldn't find format and format-version in the XML Recommendation, are
those defined somewhere? Otherwise, why not go ahead and use the encoding
attribute, I think this could be a meaningful application of it. After all,
if we encoded the entire XML document (including whitespaces and so on) in a
different manner, this wouldn't be anything other than a different encoding.
Thus, this format could be read by all kinds of parsers (i.e. DOM or SAX
parsers).

Binarized SAX and DOM are a whole different story IMHO. Those are not just a
different encoding of the XML document but rather a different encoding of
the SAX/DOM data that was generated from the XML document. Here, something
completely different (maybe not even with an XML header) would be more
apropriate since its. This format would be parser-API-specific.

Again, to recap: We are currently talking about two different things. A
generic binary representation of XML documents as well as binary
representation of data that is output by XML parsers (such as a DOM tree or
a SAX event stream).

Does it make sense to design all of them under the same hood or should we
separate them in two different efforts? Or should we decide on one of them
and focus? The requirements are significantly different.

This is all getting fairly complex, IMHO it would make sense to focus on a
single thing for now and get it done to see if its worth the effort at all.

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Stefan Zier
Software Developer
Syntion AG - http://www.syntion.com
Leonrodplatz 2 - 80636 Munich/Germany
Phone +49 89 52 30 45-0
Fax +49 89 52 30 45-20