Re: Xquery might have some things right

Oops! "Dawn M. Wolthuis" <dwolt_at_tincat-group.com> was seen spray-painting on a wall:
> "Christopher Browne" <cbbrowne_at_acm.org> wrote in message
> news:c23lje$1o07nm$1_at_ID-125932.news.uni-berlin.de...
>> In the last exciting episode, "Dawn M. Wolthuis" <dwolt_at_tincat-group.com>
> wrote:
>> > There is one huge deficiency (OK, more than one, but one I'll point
>> > out) with XQuery compared to SQL -- XQuery is a read-only language
>> > at this point, although update standards are being addressed.
>>
>> The deficiencies surely look like they are more enormous than any
>> _conceivable_ merits.
>
> Yes, but it does have to walk before running -- it is an emerging
> standard still being brought to life.

It is clearly going in the wrong direction; you must start with a jewel of a good idea in order to have any hope that a standard will be as good as a "ball of mud."

If you start with something less good than a jewel, then the result will be a "ball of something else."

Standards processes represent a system of compromises that alway compromise, to some degree, the merits of what you started with.

If you _start_ with something that is crud, then there is no way to go but even further down.

>> - If Microsoft is promoting it that can't conceivably be a good thing.
>
> You would normally see me nodding in agreement, however, replacing
> ODBC (JDBC, OLE/DB) with a standard means of querying data that
> doesn't require SQL in the mix will require Microsoft's backing
> (money talks and all).

Hoping for Microsoft's "promotion" to be a good thing in any way, shape, or form is the wrong place to start.

As with the 'standards process,' if you start with something that is any less than a shining jewel of clarity and beauty, by the time Microsoft gets through with it, it can't possibly be even as good as the SQL that you want to get away from.

>> Looks like a futile boondoggle to me...
>
> You don't see a reasonable, though unbearably slow, progression from data
> exchange:
> 1. by putting data in "card columns" then virtual card columns distributed
> on mag tape
> 2. then ftp'ing or e-mailing comma-quote files
> 3. to now including the metadata for the data within the document itself
>
> It is a small step, but one that will make a significant contribution to
> software application integration, methinks.

If you start with something that is not as good as SQL, and apply processes to it that are likely to degrade it, this does not look likely to provide a "significant contribution."

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