Actually the ideal format for information
transfer might possibly be XML, which tags
each item of data with something that identifies
what kind of data it is (as opposed to CSV, in
which the field information is purely positional).
Of course, there still must be standards set
for the tags -- otherwise you might use
<addr></addr> and I might use <address></address>.
Some industries are trying to set standards to
be used for the XML tags to be used for their
data. Essentially specifying a new common
language for each industry.
XML is a good concept, but the practice takes
a lot of pre-negotiation...and yet it's better
than most of the alternatives due to it's
flexability.
--
-Richard M. Hartman
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
186,000 mi./sec ... not just a good idea, it's the LAW!
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Bob Ebert [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
> Sent: Monday, May 03, 1999 1:42 PM
> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Subject: Re: transmitting data by IR
>
>
> At 6:18 AM -0700 5/3/99, Adrian Pfisterer wrote:
> >With JetSend two communication appliances *negotiate*
> (through the JetSend
> >protocols) content. And (this is the clincher) the two devices are
> >required to support the JetSend mandatory content format.
> This guarantees
> >that the two devices will be able to exchange content in a
> meaningful way.
>
> This is similar to how many systems attempt to implement
> clipboard-based
> data exchange between applications.
>
> One consistent problem with that scheme is that there's no
> good way for
> apps to negotiate for the least loss of content in the data.
>
> e.g. MS Word says "I can export a ton of formats, including
> Word '96, '97,
> '98, RTF, and plain text". But what it doesn't say is that
> you get 100% of
> your content only with Word '98 format, maybe 95% of it with
> '97, maybe 90%
> with '96, maybe 80% with RTF, and only 20% with text.
>
> On the recieving end, an app may be able to import Word '96,
> RTF, and text,
> but it has to throw away 40% of the info in the Word format,
> 30% in RTF,
> and 0% in the text format.
>
> Given full knowledge about how much information is lost, it's
> relatively
> easy to pick an optimal exchange format. But if you have to
> implement a
> deterministic algorithm that only looks at the formats available, this
> isn't solvable.
>
> Does JetSend address this?
>
> Perhaps it's simpler said to note that the Address book can't
> do a darn
> thing with 300dpi input, so the actual information transfer
> is 0% for that
> case. ...and it can't do very much with ASCII, not without additional
> rules to parse the text. That's what vCard is for...
>
> --Bob
>
>
>
