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August 20, 2002
XML Schemas vs. DTDs and Other Issues
John Gotze in Gotzeblogged writes:
The most interesting document on this I've read for a long while (and I've been reading a lot) is Phil Windley's Enabling Web Services. I must follow up more in details, because there are lots of good points, but also a few places where I disagree: DTDs? No, use XML Schemas, I'd say. WSIL? Hmmm. Maybe, but we (government) need to engage in UDDI too.
I think using XML Schema instead of DTDs is probably the right choice. I'll update the paper. In particular the XML Schema language gives you the power of a context sensative grammar rather than a context free grammar (at least for types) with little increase in complexity. They also probably have a brighter future. The main point is, however: document what you create and keep it up to date.
I think UDDI is premature except inside the orgranization, so I stick by my recommendation to use WSIL. WSIL can be easily integrated with UDDI later when (if?) it takes off. He then says:
In policy-making terms, however, Phil and other RESTians have a particular and peculiar problem: How do you explain what it's all about in political, non-technical words? I'm a techie, and I hardly understand it. My collegues (and bosses) are political scientists or whatever, and simply don't get it at all.
Boy, isn't that the truth! I worked very hard on the paper because I knew this was an issue going through multiple major revisions. Still, I'm aware that it is pretty condensed and is really more readable by a technical audience than a general audience. On thought is to expand each principle into its own mini-paper with more room to explain, more examples, etc. I'm open to suggestions.
09:57 PM | Recommend This | Print This
Pleasant Surprise
As I've mentioned here before, I have traditionally had my students keep a written lab notebook of all the actions they take as they set up and administer their machines. This year, I'd like to have them keep their notebooks online in a blog. That enables me to keep up with what their writing in an aggregator rather than everyone passing bulky written notebooks around.
I've got a few options:
- Have the students use Radio. Pros: its easy Cons: it costs money and they won't necessarily have there own windows box to run it on (the lab machines will be running Linux).
- Have the students install something on their lab machine like Slash or Monoraul Jerk. Pros: they control it and its free. Cons: they won't be sophisticated enough for these installations until a month into the class (although its a great exercise).
- Use the Slashcode Journal system that I already have running on the class site. Pros: its easy. Cons: no possibility for multiple channels or RSS.
Turns out that the pleasant surprise is that the Slash journal system does do RSS. I was thinking, "OK, I could modify journal.pl to output RSS." There's already a "op=display" parameter. Lo and behold, if you change the "display" to "rss" you get RSS. Pretty cool.
I will need to modify journal.pl a little. It doesn't put the journal writers name in the title, but in the description field which many aggregators doesn't display. Having 40-50 sites show up in my aggregator all labeled "CS462, Enterprise Computing Journals" wouldn't work. [Update: I made the change easily in just a few minutes.]
04:32 PM | Recommend This | Print This
Candidate's Weblog
Tara Grubb is a candidate for U.S. Congress, North Carolina, District 6. (from her weblog).
I think its interesting to see a weblog from a candidate. I'm not familiar with the District 6 race in NC, so I don't know if Ms. Grubb is a viable candidate or not, but a weblog is a nice personable way to get the word out.
Now, a real weblog by a sitting politician is something else of interest. I'm not aware of any. Politicians, for good reason, take public positions very carefully and with much advice from people they trust.
03:23 PM | Recommend This | Print This
Apache Gains Ground
The latest Netcraft survey shows Apache gaining substantial share against Microsoft's web server. As you can see in the graph, iPlanet and others are sinking into oblivion. We have quite a few instances of Microsoft's web server running and it causes most of our web-based security problems. Like everyone else, apparently, we've been replacing it.
Our state de facto standard is for iPlanet, but Apache is on the emerging standards list and I've been encouraging its use in the State whenever I can. I've been an Apache user since it was first released. Like any piece of widely deployed software, it has had some security problems. The difference is that they've been geometrically smaller in number than Microsoft's and they're quickly and reliably fixed.