RE: Character encoding in PIDF

> Tim Bray goes on to argue (see discussion thread from above
> messages) that
> full-blown generic XML parsers will (or should) be used whenever XML
> appears in a protocol, and hence that it is not appropriate to
> restrict the
> character encoding to UTF-8.  I happen to disagree -- I think specific
> protocol implementations may reasonably be hand-coded and
> optimized to deal
> with a single character encoding.

I would tend to agree, and I think RFC-2779 would support that
interpretation. The relevant part reads

   To this end, the protocols designed by this Working Group must be
   suitable for operation in a context typically associated with mobile
   wireless access devices, viz.  high latency, low bandwidth and
   possibly intermittent connectivity (which lead to a desire to
   minimize round-trip delays), modest computing power, battery
   constraints, small displays, etc. In particular, the protocols must
   be designed to be reasonably efficient for small payloads.

[Of course, we could have a spirited debate about whether we've done well at
meeting these requirements so far, but it's clear that we shouldn't make
things worse whenever we can avoid doing so.]

--Mark




  [reminder: [email protected] for non-technical discussions, please]