Does using XML eliminate the need for a translator?
It will once we have the missing bit, which we haven’t reached yet: XSL or the XML/EDI template. The XML Stylesheet Language (XSL) is a generalized mechanism for converting XML objects into a displayable/processable form. It includes ECMAScript, a version of JavaScript/JScript that has been standardized by the European Computer Manufacturers Association. The fact that XSL processing instructions can be attached permanently or temporarily to XML messages within general purpose XML tools, and are themselves XML messages, means that there is no need to invent yet another mechanism for moving processing information from one system to another. The fact that ECMAScript is among the most portable of languages currently available means that we can envisage its support in wide range of environments. At present, XSL still awaits formal agreement, and still fails to provide some facilities basic to the support of XML/EDI. We are working on this (among many other things). Before we can finalize th
