Re: XML: The good, the bad, and the ugly

From: Lemming <thiswillbounce_at_bumblbee.demon.co.uk>
Date: Sun, 17 Oct 2004 23:09:27 +0100
Message-ID: <fup5n0p6omq1gq05ib0jpo6tnejl0dpv5p_at_4ax.com>


On Tue, 5 Oct 2004 16:32:59 -0400, "Laconic2" <laconic2_at_comcast.net> wrote:

>
>"Lemming" <thiswillbounce_at_bumblbee.demon.co.uk> wrote in message
>news:afp5m0tfejeosbivqqq89b059bhu8i0u7d_at_4ax.com...
>
>> But I must ask: why do we have to pick a "one-size-fits-all" approach?
>> Why is that better than deciding what is best for a particular
>> application?
>
>Why do we all use binary?

Another late reply, sorry.

I think this question was asked in more of a spirit of Zen than as a question requiring an answer. Accordingly it's given me much pause for thought.

Is the analogy geniune? Can we equate the use of binary with the use of a particular file format? Does everyone really use binary? I suspect in a lot of shops, there are some programmers who have perhaps heard of binary, but live in fear that one day someone will ask them to do something which requires them to understand it.

Binary is something we use because we are stuck with it. It's only there because of the hardware; because the devices we use are based on a model which uses a system of on/off switches to represent data. And most of the time we don't even need to know that those devices are working in binary.

There are plenty of applications where we encounter problems which because of digital computers' reliance on binary means we have to approximate; we have to make do with the limitations of binary representation.

We are not stuck with XML. When I find an application for which it might be useful - for example sending small chunks of data for import into a number of different client systems - then I'll use it. When it's imposed on me to transfer a million customer records from one specific system down a 1Mb line daily, parse it and import it into another specific system, I'll use it for that too (but don't expect me to be happy about it).

XML, it seems to me, is a format designed for general data transfer. It is a Jack of All Trades. It is strong at providing data in a standard format readable by a wide variety of different systems. Where it falls down is as a data transfer medium for large volumes of data between specific systems. Just like Jack, it knows a little about many things, but does not know very much about any of them individually.

Lemming

-- 
Curiosity *may* have killed Schrodinger's cat.
Received on Mon Oct 18 2004 - 00:09:27 CEST

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