Why are simple code lists so complex?
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SVG versionTrack: Core Technologies, Client Applications, Integration
Audience Level: High Level/Technical View
Time: Thursday, November 18 at 11:45
Keywords: CCTS, Code List, Data Interchange, Data Representation, Database, EbXML, FpML, ISO, ISO 20022, MDDL, UBL
Abstract:
Code lists, or enumerated values, have been with us since long before computers. They should be well understood and easily dealt with by now. Unfortunately, they are not. As is so often the case, if you take a fundamentally simple concept, you find that everyone professes to understand it with crystal clarity. When you look more closely, you find that everybody has their own unique view of what the problem is and how it should be solved. Getting to a broadly applicable solution in these cases can be a long, slow struggle.
This presentation examines the ways code lists are used, based on the author's experience with a number of XML standards, including ebXML/UBL, ISO 20022, FpML, and MDDL. This is further extended beyond the needs (and mindsets) of XML to the general requirements of applications. A sufficiently complex method for managing simple code lists is then proposed.
