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List:       xml-dev
Subject:    Re: [xml-dev] Do attributes have scope? Are attributes metadata?
From:       Norman Gray <norman () astro ! gla ! ac ! uk>
Date:       2012-02-29 14:32:19
Message-ID: 5E8EF974-E9F5-4E71-ACBC-EF8758C32857 () astro ! gla ! ac ! uk
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On 2012 Feb 29, at 14:03, Andrew Welch wrote:

> > I say this only to wonder whether there is _anything_ that is indisputably \
> > metadata or data.
> 
> How about the encoding in the xml prolog?

Possibly, but do you mean that the declaration is indisputably data, or indisputably \
metadata?

It's certainly data, because it's part of the sequence of bytes which comprise the \
file (or database record, or whatever...).  Alternatively, and at a higher level, \
it's certainly data because it's intrinsic to the structure of the XML file, viewed \
as a way of encoding a sequence of characters in a sequence of bytes.

Equally, it's certainly metadata, because it's data about data, namely data about the \
sequence of bytes which follows it, which is added because it's necessary for their \
correct interpretation.

I suppose I find the former a bit less of a stretch than the latter, but I'm willing \
to be dogmatically certain either way.

All the best,

Norman
(hang on -- it's not Friday afternoon!)


-- 
Norman Gray  :  http://nxg.me.uk
SUPA School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Glasgow, UK




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