Re: Reading a C struct in java
RedGrittyBrick wrote:
XML - I think you have the position right. I use it a lot and have
become steadily more disillusioned with XML as a data format.
Lew wrote:
I've been using XML a lot - a whole lot - for over ten years, and I am
still becoming steadily more enamored of it as a data format.
RGB:
Canonicalisation.
Exclusive?
What do you mean by "exclusive"?
Namespaces?
Namespace prefixes?
Is this supposed to be a complaint about or criticism of XML? Because
I would argue that these are XML strengths.
Digital signatures.
Embedded, Detached?
This is a criticism of XML itself? I don't think so.
Certs, PKCS12!
Also not inherent to XML.
Schema definition languages.
XSD insufficient so Schematron too!
XSD has always sufficed for my needs.
Attributes vs elements.
Again, this is a criticism? How is this a criticism?
=85
Ellipsis so that we can imagine there are more things to say, albeit
you couldn't think of them.
Aaaaaaaaaaaaieeeeee!
Programming is hard, that's why they pay us the big bucks.
Consider the alternatives to XML:
- EDI - talk about "Aaaaaaaaaaaaieeeeee!"
- fixed-width formats - layout has semantics. Inflexible. Not human-
readable.
- Java 'Serializable' - specialized
- CSV - virtually randomly specified - not consistent, not
regularizable.
I have yet to find a format that is as clean or flexible or extensible
or maintainable for data exchange as XML, let alone more so.
--
Lew