Re: "XML Schema specifies just syntax" versus "XML Schema specifies semantics"

On Wed, 2011-11-09 at 11:21 -0800, Steven Ericsson-Zenith wrote:
> In Logic "semantics" refers to the rules of valid syntax and its
> transformation. I can't make any sense of the definition given here.

I think Roger is using a mixture of the Semantic Web and linguistic and
common-usage definitions, rather than that of logic and predicate
calculus.

In any case I don't see it as helpful; it's clear that people can and do
use XSD (W3C XML Schema) and other XML schema languages, to define
ontologies, that is, hierarchies of terms in a controlled vocabulary;
they can give them human- and machine-readable "meaning" e.g. using
annotations and/or RDF.

An XML Schema defines a formal grammar, but also defines ways for a
Schema processor to associate type and other annotations to XML markup.

If RDF can carry meaning, and if you can use a Schema to associate RDF
with XML elements, it seems reasonable to imagine that you can use a
Schema to impart meaning to an XML document.

Whether these antics are called semantics is another question.

Liam

-- 
Liam Quin - XML Activity Lead, W3C, http://www.w3.org/People/Quin/
Pictures from old books: http://fromoldbooks.org/