[xml-h] hyperspace oddity

[Reinout van Rees]

On Tue, 25 Feb 2003, Simon St.Laurent wrote:

[some snipped]
> http://www.itworld.com/nl/xml_prac/09122002/
> I particularly like this bit:
> -----------------------------------
> The problem of linking things together on the Web takes an almost
> vertical ascent into complexity which layer of abstraction piling on
> layer of abstraction very quickly.
> -----------------------------------

Another comment by the author is basically that humans are forgiving
for 404 errors, but programs and business processes are not. So
linking needs to be very robust for those uses.

I'm inclined to disagree with that for the majority of uses. I'm
PhD-ing in the building and construction industry and that's one big
mess of small companies, subcontractors, many stakeholders and
non-standard products. Not one partner normally is big enough to
dictate it's central database to the rest. So a bit of xml and a bit
of linking is a good idea.

If everybody makes his data more or less accessible with xml it sounds
like simple html-style linking can do a lot of good. I mean, when the
other partners server is down you'll have to make do with the data of
half an hour ago. That's nothing compared to looking at last
afternoon's drawing sent this morning by courier!

Basically, my point is that a simplistic linking scheme can go a very
long way in pleasing 90% of the businesses. Also, if you get a 404, a
different linking scheme wouldn't save you from the server with a
hickup.

2 eurocents.

Reinout

-- 
Reinout van Rees - reinout at vanrees.org | "Utter. Crap."
                                       |
http://vanrees.org/  http://bcxml.net/ | -- Blackadder