[SCL] two comments

[Murray Altheim]

Pat,

I can't follow the details of this entirely, but the conversation
sounds very much like one that went on in the XML Topic Maps
discussions. Without boring you all with the details, a Topic Map
is not a linear sequence; it's very much a complex, unordered graph.
We were still able to use EBNF to specify the XML syntax, and I'm
sure that the graph theoretic model behind that (which is called
the Reference Model, a current ISO project) is also capable of
being expressed in EBNF. So I'm really not certain where you'd
have to rely on "tricks" to get EBNF to do what you want with the
SCL abstract syntax, or XCL/CLML for that matter.

Murray

PS. I tend to use "XCL" rather than CLML because there is some question
about whether an XML serialization of CL could be considered a "markup
language" or not, i.e., some people also question whether XTM is a
markup language or a serialization syntax. Doesn't really matter I
suppose, but I tend to avoid *ML for that reason. No biggie though.
...........................................................................
Murray Altheim                         http://kmi.open.ac.uk/people/murray/
Knowledge Media Institute
The Open University, Milton Keynes, Bucks, MK7 6AA, UK                    .

   Entitled Continuing Collateral Damage: the health and environmental
   costs of war on Iraq, the report estimates that between 22,000 and
   55,000 people - mainly Iraqi soldiers and civilians - died as a direct
   result of the war.
   http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/3259489.stm

   Entitled Continuing Collateral Damage? ...a euphemism for BushCo.