Declaration vs definition

[caferias]

Hello, I'm curious about the difference between the term "declaration"
and "definition" in the context of XML. Where is the difference?

Greetings: Fernando

 

[Joe Kesselman]

Hello, I'm curious about the difference between the term "declaration"
and "definition" in the context of XML. Where is the difference?

Where, in specific?

 

[Philippe Poulard]

Hello, I'm curious about the difference between the term "declaration"
and "definition" in the context of XML. Where is the difference?

they both start with "de" and end with "tion" ; the other characters are
the difference (notice that in the context of XML the case matters)



--
Cordialement,

///
(. .)
--------ooO--(_)--Ooo--------
| Philippe Poulard |

 

[Alain Frisch]

"caferias" , dans le message (comp.text.xml:74580), a écrit :

Hello, I'm curious about the difference between the term "declaration"
and "definition" in the context of XML. Where is the difference?

My understanding is that a "declaration" creates a fresh object
and binds it to a name, whereas a "definition" only binds an existing
object to a name. In particular, two definitions with the same content
denote equivalent things, whereas two declarations with the same
content create different things. A definition is just about
naming things; a declaration is generative.

-- Alain

 

[Joe Kesselman]

My understanding is that a "declaration" creates a fresh object
and binds it to a name, whereas a "definition" only binds an existing
object to a name. In particular, two definitions with the same content
denote equivalent things, whereas two declarations with the same
content create different things. A definition is just about
naming things; a declaration is generative.

That's the convention in many programming-language contexts.

To know how this applies to XML, though, we'd have to see the context in
which it was used.

 

[Johannes Koch]

[declaration and definition in XML]

To know how this applies to XML, though, we'd have to see the context in
which it was used.

When I first read the OP's post I thought of document type declaration
and document type definition.

 

[Joe Kesselman]

When I first read the OP's post I thought of document type declaration
and document type definition.

.... Perhaps. If so:

"[Definition:] The XML document type declaration contains or points to
markup declarations that provide a grammar for a class of documents.
This grammar is known as a document type definition, or DTD. The
document type declaration can point to an external subset (a special
kind of external entity) containing markup declarations, or can contain
the markup declarations directly in an internal subset, or can do both.
The DTD for a document consists of both subsets taken together."

As I read that, the Document Type Declaration is production 28 in the
XML grammar (doctypedecl), whereas the Document Type Definition is
specifically that portion of the declaration which is described by
production 29 (markupdecl).

But I've never seen anyone use the term "document type declaration"
outside this specification. It's generally just called "the doctype", or
"the DTD" (though officially, DTD refers only to the definition).

Does that help?

 

[Johannes Koch]

But I've never seen anyone use the term "document type declaration"
outside this specification.

I use this term quite frequently

 

[Alain Frisch]

Johannes Koch , dans le message (comp.text.xml:74592), a écrit :

When I first read the OP's post I thought of document type declaration
and document type definition.

As for me, I thought of the XML Schema spec, with element and attribute
declarations, but type and group definitions.