[DFDL-WG] checking on 'no recursion' restriction - are we sure we can live without it

[Kristoffer H Rose]

Dear Mike,

So how should a JSON mapping in DFDL look like?

Cheers,
        Kris

__
Kristoffer H Rose, ph.d. <krisrose at us.ibm.com> +1(914)784-7642 (fax -6324)
IBM T.J.Watson Research Center, PO Box 704, Yorktown Heights, NY 10598




Mike Beckerle <mbeckerle.dfdl at gmail.com> 
04/06/2012 05:48 PM

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dfdl-wg at ogf.org, 
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Kristoffer H Rose/Watson/IBM at IBMUS
Subject
checking on 'no recursion' restriction - are we sure we can live without 
it







DFDL v1.0 spec currently disallows recursive types.

Are we sure we can live without this?

Seems to me there are many formats e.g., JSON, which are popular now, and 
which naturally require recursion to express.

There are a number of document-like formats - there's a fuzzy grey area 
where documents and data records overlap, and these will naturally be 
modeled using recursion.

Even formats like EDIFACT allow segment nesting, though I'm not sure about 
whether recursive definitions are allowed or precluded, a generic EDIFACT 
parser wouldn't know any specific segment types, and would want to have a 
recursively defined generic segment structure.

Comments?

...mikeb

-- 
Mike Beckerle | OGF DFDL WG Co-Chair 
Tel:  781-330-0412