🚀 go-pugleaf

James Clark's recent question prompted me to look for articles on the
use of attributes in general, and I've found a number of references
which appear negative or take a firm stand against using them.

Without mentioning names, two large projects in which SGML is used
take a firm stand against using attributes.  The main argument in both
is that the application will be able to sort out what's content and
what's not, and that using attributes only complicate the parser -
application interface, and also the parsing process.

1.  What do you think about attributes versus nesting tags?

2.  If you have decided against using attributes, what were the main
    argument(s) against using them?  How did you represent the data
    that would otherwise have been in attributes?

3.  Since NOTATION info is frequently provided in an attribute, does
    this mean you don't use NOTATIONs?

4.  Are there parsers or other SGML software out there unable to
    process attributes?

5.  If you have used attributes extensively, what were the major
    design choices you made between content and attribute for a given
    piece of information?


I'm hoping for a discussion of the de/merits of attributes, and will
summarize any private replies I get.

Thanks for your time.

--
[Erik Naggum]           Professional Programmer        <enag@ifi.uio.no>
Naggum Software             Electronic Text          <erik@naggum.uu.no>
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