At 11:23 AM 12/2/2003, Peter wrote:
I think what Linus was all het up about was the inappropriate use of xml,
for the example he gave xml (even if done correctly) is overkill. You want
to read a small configuarion file? Load up a monster xml parser just to
extract the eight bytes you require.
I am coming to regret that I used xml to store knowledgebases for my
expert system, parsing the file adds a not inconsiderable startup cost to
the program and amounts to half the code I have to maintain. The xml file
itself is only 30%-40% data and the rest is xml markup.
Trouble with a hammer is that everything looks like a nail - and I have
been using xml too much.
Exactly. I doubt that even in his "het up" state, Linus would argue against
XML as an alternative to opaque, proprietary binary formats for complex
documentary data ... which is to say, the main application domain for which
markup languages were developed in the first place.
If your dataset is regular, markup languages do much less for you. A
standard syntax is still a Good Thing, but the balance really shifts when
weighing the tradeoffs. (And at the lower levels of an OS, classic
arguments for platform-independence really don't wash.)
Let's get back on topic? Notice how XSLT really shines when asked to do
things with irregular data, and in systems where a distinction is useful
between "content" and its "format"; if the structures in the source are
perfectly regular and there will never be any reuse or "repurposing" (awful
word) of the data set, XSLT just seems like more angle brackets.
Cheers,
Wendell
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Wendell Piez
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