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FAST Protocol
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Re: Weigh-in please - Template format: XML and/or Compact Notation
David Rosenborg / Pantor Engineering AB
19 Apr 2006 3:58PM ETClearly the concrete syntax is not the same as the abstract notion of templates. However this doesn't mean we must have it in separate documents. If we go down that road, split things in multiple documents just becaus it is possible from a theoretical point of view, I'm convinced the result will be unecessary complex. Actually, I think we should lean in the other direction: trying to minimize the number of documents when possible.
The fact that the specification describing the abstract concepts of templates also include a concrete syntax, a reference concrete syntax if you like, does not exclude any other syntaxes. The TD document is pretty specific on this point: there's no requirement that a FAST processor must be able to read the XML syntax.
If you´re interested in examples from the world outside FIX/FAST you can look at how the RELAX NG (http://relaxng.org, the XML schema language used in TD) documents were laid out. First a core specification was developed which included a reference syntax in XML and the formal semantics. Then there was a tutorial which informally described the concepts of the core spec. Later, a compact notation specification was added. In fact, the existence of a reference XML syntax helped creating the compact notation since it is described as a syntactical transformation to the reference XML syntax.
The fact that the reference XML syntax was an intrinsic part of the core spec was never an issue. Nore would it need to be an issue in FAST.
/David
> > Either way MDOWG decides to go - my recommendation is that we uncouple
> > the definition of templates from a specific implementation, be it XML
> > or Compact Notation.
>
> I agree with this approach. Uncoupling the format of the definition (XML
> or compact) from the definition itself will quiet concerns about the
> complexity or simplicity of a particular format.
>
> Greg
Re: Weigh-in please - Template format: XML and/or Compact Notation
David Rosenborg / Pantor Engineering AB 19 Apr 2006 3:58PM ET
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