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DSD vs. W3C's XML Schema FAQ

Can you compare DSDs to the XML Schema being developed by the W3C?

DSDs are much more expressive than the current XML Schema notation (except that we don't deal with namespaces yet). DSDs are also much simpler (we would like to believe).

The DSD 1.0 specification appears to say that DSDs more or less are the same as XML Schema?

We certainly didn't want to imply that DSDs do more or less the same as XML Schema. In the introduction, we formulate several goals not attained by XML Schema, among them context dependencies, evolution, and a CSS-like default mechanism. Please also see our overview paper, which compares the DSD notation to XML Schema (to the extent it was possible, since XML Schema is still rather incomplete and the document is not that easy to read).

Why develop a different syntax instead of contributing to the ongoing work on Schema?

DSDs are much more than a different syntax. We do hope to contribute to later phases of the W3C work; indeed, we have already kept the schema group informed about our work. We believe DSDs could play an important role in promoting XML, since they leverage already established technologies such as CSS and context-free grammars. As such, DSDs are significantly different from XML schemas.


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