Discussion Forums

re: XML will be enough...
John O'Hara / Bankers Trust
7 Apr 1999 11:35AM ET

>
> Have you read the XML-Data proposal?
> www.w3.org/TR/1998/NOTE-XML-data-0105/Overview.html
>
> It is introducing the concept of schemas which will provide the same functionality as DTDs. Schemas are written in XML so they are extensible. Developers will be able to extend schemas with additional information like datatypes.
>
> See also:
> www.textuality.com/xml/typing.html
>

There are several competing proposals for how to implement some kind of document 'schema' for XML to overcome the weaknesses of DTDs.
The XML-Data proposal was one of the first, but unlikely to be accepted as the final standard (that's the general feeling I get from the XML community) DCD or DDML is more likely to be adopted.

However, lack of complete validation through the DTD is no reason to rule out XML processing for FIX; validation can be done in the processing API/engine until something better comes along.

What FIXML does open up, as I'm sure everyone involved appreciates, is the ability to leverage existing and emergent tools and a well understood idiom for the messages. There are other benefits; easily understood by people and perhaps more importantly, easily extended with and embedded into other data as future requirements grow.

Finally XML notations are flexible enough to represent complex recursive message structures; which would be required to represent some complex exotic products if FIX continues to move to support the widest range of financial products...

Regards,
John O'Hara
Technical Architect
Bankers Trust


XML or SGML?
sam johnson / goldman, sachs & co.   24 Apr 1998 4:52PM ET
re: XML or SGML?
John Goeller / Salomon Smith Barney   27 Apr 1998 10:38AM ET
re: XML will be enough...
John O'Hara / Bankers Trust   7 Apr 1999 11:35AM ET
re: XML or SGML?
sam johnson / goldman, sachs & co.   5 Jun 1998 4:29PM ET