[DOC-SIG] Library reference manual debate

[Fred L. Drake]

Guido van Rossum writes:
 > What is the use of SGML without a DTD?  Can one still create HTML and
 > Postscript from it?

  There must be a DTD, even if it doesn't get written down.  (That's
often referred to as "well-formed" XML. ;)
  Paul is referring to a long-standing convention of converting
between document types in incremental steps, to allow each step to be
simple to implement and check.  It should not be too hard to do; my
main concern is that the DTDs for intermediate stages must be
sufficiently well understood that the conversions don't lose
information by accident.  This will probably mean, if the DTDs aren't
written and at least partially documented, that one person will handle 
the entire process until the target DTD is reached.  Perhaps this is
O.K., perhaps not.  Others should be able to repeat the process by
running the same sequence of scripts over the same input data.


  -Fred

--
Fred L. Drake, Jr.
fdrake@cnri.reston.va.us
Corporation for National Research Initiatives
1895 Preston White Drive
Reston, VA    20191-5434

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