Extensibility, XML Vocabularies, and XML Schema

Authors: 
Orchard, David
Author: 
Orchard, D
Year: 
2004
Venue: 
; David Orchard http://www.xml.com/pub/a/2004/10/27/extend.html
URL: 
http://www.xml.com/pub/a/2004/10/27/extend.html
Citations: 
8
Citations range: 
1 - 9

Introduction

XML is designed for the creation of languages based upon self-describing markup. The inevitable evolution of these languages -- by adding, deleting, and changing parts -- is called versioning. To make versioning work in practice is one of the most difficult problems in computing, with a long history of failed attempts. Arguably, the Web rose dramatically in popularity because evolution and versioning were built into HTML and HTTP headers. Both languages provide explicit extensibility points and rules for understanding extensions that enabled the decentralized extension and versioning of the languages.