Comments on the format of the termination problems of the TPDB

[Claude Marche]

>>>>> "Aart" == Aart Middeldorp <Aart.Middeldorp at uibk.ac.at> writes:

    Aart> Dear all,
    Aart> Thanks for Albert and Claude for the first draft and
    Aart> Alfons for initiating the discussion! To simplify things,
    Aart> I will not quote any messages, but try to make some general
    Aart> remarks.

    Aart> (1) The purpose of the format is not that it is easy to
    Aart>      read by humans, but that it is easy to manipulate by
    Aart>      computers and that it is extendible to cover future
    Aart>      situations (like higher-order).

    Aart> (2) Some of the discussions on the syntax are not really
    Aart>      important; rather we can leave out a lot of the syntax
    Aart>      decisions if we adopt XML.

As far as I remember, in Valencia, we agreed that the common format
should be mainly for use by computer tools, but also should remain
quite readable by humans. If the second condition is not anymore
required, for sure we can adopt XML.

It would be a major change in our attempt of having a common format,
so such a decision has to be made as soon as possible. Do we need to
vote ?

- Claude




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