Re: [seul-edu] Re: Student Information Standard (EduML)

[Thomas TEMPE <ttempe@ifaedi.insa-lyon.fr>]

On Sun, 22 Oct 2000, Bruno Vernier wrote:
> 
> Here is what I have gleaned in 2 years of work and reflection on this topic:
> 
> 
> SQL advantage: fast, stable storage/retrieval with postgresql and MySQL 
> XML advantage: richer model of reality, object-oriented, internet-aware
> 

I have been looking around in the past month, but I haven't found any way to
store/retrieve a piece of XML other than the "plaint text" (well... say "plain
xml") file. This doesn't seem optimal if you intend to store/query for pieces of
XML from a somewat big database (say, a Pangée repository;)

I've asked my database course teacher, he said that there still is no such
thing as an XML database engine. I would like to see that infirmed, but I hold him
for someone very knowledgeable in his area of expertise.

Is there something out there that could act as an (back-office) XML repository?
Or could you point me to some way of mapping an XML structure onto a SQL
database?


> 3. Steve and David are right on:  There are at least 2 ways to implement a 
> standard data format:  The first and easiest is to add a IMPORT/E XPORT
> command in all educational software which would make a conversion "snapshot"
> into eduML or eduSQL  (names for whatever emerges as the standard)
> 
>    The second and even more useful is some kind of CLient/Server mechanism
> that handles/centralizes all educational transactions in a given area (using
> the old TCP/IP paradigm; hierarchical authoritative trees like DNS).  I have
> not seen anyone on this list propose such a client/server, though I think
> the Casbah open source project came close.
> 

1) is the Casbah project still alive?
Last year, I stood on their "users" mailing- list for something like a month
without seeing a single post :(
2) You talk about centralizing _transactions_, not information, right? (ie
"student Nr. 456I0 has dropped school", not "here's the list of our students")
This should make it possible to integrate a transaction centralization
mechanism based on EduML into an existing EduML-based project when such a mechanism
becomes available.

> As more and more of us become XML literate and understand the big picture
> going on here, I think this discussion will become fruitful.

I hope so :)

> p.s. Thomas Tempe's website about Pangee (universal language education
> software) mentions possibly using EDUml as a data-transfer format.

Yep. And more. I am now in a "looking-for-the-right-tools" stage, and expect to
remain there until I've found what I seek or until this year's cs projects
start :(
I'm willing to learn anything interesting I can put my hands on. (I'm currently
learning Python)

> p.s.s. My current work involves using zope to handle this problem. 

Do you have any documentation ready?
And, above all, is Zope suitable for back-office work (ie the repository tiers
of the 3-tiers model)?

Note: I really appreciate  your proposition for writing a FAQ. That would help
me a lot :)

Have fun,

Thomas Tempé