The goals of XTM
|
XTM should
be straightforwardly usable over the Internet; |
|
XTM shall
support a wide variety of applications; |
|
XTM shall
be compatible with XML, XLIink and with ISO 13250; |
|
it shall be easy
to write programs that process XTM documents; |
|
the number of
optional features in XTM is to be kept to the absolute
minimum, ideally zero; |
|
XTM
documents should be legible and reasonably clear; |
|
the design of
XTM shall be formal and concise; |
|
XTM
documents shall be easy to create; |
|
terseness in XTM
markup is of minimal importance. |
XML is an extensible
language, in which everyone can freely create his/her own tags. An
interesting test is exporting a concept map
o semantic network and import it in a database management system.
Importing an XML export in another program requires analysis.
Instead, XTM is
a standard that comprises a grammar and a syntax of its own, which
means that two systems that manage associative information (e.g. concept
maps or semantic networks, databases thesaurus, etc.) should be able to
exchange their structures with a minimum effort or additional work,
practically transparent; those applications should reciprocally
"understand" their contents and import them into its own system.
Extensibility in XTM,
though plausible, is limited.
This standard is
oriented to the direct use beside the exchange of prevalently cognitive
structures. It should be possible to exchange contents between
applications that manage associative contents.
In its generality,
XTM responds to the basic principles of XML but, being a standard, it uses a specific syntax that must be
shared, with slight adjustments, by any application.
The
associative nature and organic components (concepts,
categories,
relations and
paths) of concept maps (semantic networks), coincidental with the
objectives and structural characteristics of the XTM format,
make of this format its natural exchange device. |