Re: [Json] Nudging the English-language vs. formalisms discussion forward

[Phillip Hallam-Baker <[e-mail]>]

On Wed, Feb 19, 2014 at 5:04 PM, Barry Leiba <[e-mail]>wrote:

> Using Carsten's "summary" note as an anchor, let me back up to where
> this proposal came from.
>
> I'm interested in providing a recommended way (through a non-binding,
> Informational document that describes it) in which protocol elements
> that are JSON things can be described in documents.  I'm hoping we can
> keep this work item to that limited scope, and not go too far in
> trying to devise something mega-general that does everything but
> eat.[1]
>
> That means that I'm looking for something that addresses the 90% case
> nicely and cleanly.  The 10% of the messier cases should be workable,
> but can be messier, I think.  As an example of what made me think
> about this, look at these:
> 1. Section 6.1.1 of
> http://tools.ietf.org/html/draft-ietf-repute-media-type-12
> 2. Section 6.2.2 of
> http://tools.ietf.org/html/draft-ietf-repute-media-type-13
>
> Note that the attempt to reproduce the JSON ABNF, in version -12, had
> a number of problems.  I think the mechanism in version -13 is much
> cleaner... and it's simple and easy to explain.  Nested and complex
> structures can be handled as they are in ABNF, by naming the nested or
> complex bit and then expanding it in another "rule".  I think this
> sort of mechanism meets the "addresses the 90% case nicely" desire.  I
> like it because it's easy to write and, more importantly, easy to read
> and understand.
>

It is obviously possible to create an ABNF description of JSON (call this X)

It is thus possible to create an ABNF description of a Web Service message
as an ABNF description. (Call this Y)


What I think is going to be very hard is proving that a given Y is a subset
of X. And if we do that we risk having specifications that are not actually
JSON but only JSON-like.

Unless that is we start off with a tool that generates Y in a fashion that
makes it easy to check that it is a subset of X.

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Website: http://hallambaker.com/