On Sat, 12 Feb 2000, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
> I wrote a paper on
>
> XML
> (Extensible Markup Language)
> for:
>
> http://www.chipcenter.com/circuitcellar/february00/c0200r30.htm
>
> Why would we here care about a thing such as XML? The article covers
> such things as XML-RPC which is a Remote Procedure Calling system, and
> Distributed Objects.
>
> Any one want to run a big job on lots of computers using Rebol
> maybe? :-)
>
> Alas I wrote this paper in early December before I started using Rebol,
> would have been good to get it in the article.
Great, someone who knows about XML and REBOL! I have just begun researching
XML and was thinking about how it relates to REBOL. Can REBOL be
used in place of XML? I would like to hear other's thoughts on the matter.
Here are my comparisons for some of the 7 points about XLM listed on
http://www.w3.org/XML/1999/XML-in-10-points
1. XML is a method for putting structured data in a text file
REBOL can be used in exactly the same manner.
2. XML looks a bit like HTML but isn't HTML
Looking like HTML is a bad thing in my opinion. Having to match the
word of start and end tags is brain-dead. It takes more space and makes it
inconvenient to change tag types. REBOL's open brace/close brace is
as clean as you can get. In my text editor I can easily find the end of a
REBOL block by using the 'jump to other bracket' command.
3. XML is text, but isn't meant to be read
Unlike XML, REBOL claims to be readable by non-experts. I'm not really sure
if REBOL can live up to this claim; it is a computer language and uses
punctuation in 'weird' and very specific ways. However I think it is a noble
goal to strive for.
4. XML is a family of technologies
Are the examples given (Xlink, XSL, etc) equivalent to REBOL dialects?
REBOL seems to be its own "family of technologies." Witness REBOL/View,
REBOL/Command, etc. Extensions and dialects are created in REBOL itself.
REBOL/Command seems to be the equivalent of DOM. DOM is described as "a
platform- and language-neutral interface that allows programs and scripts to
dynamically access and update the content, structure and style of documents".
If you're scripting you'll be using REBOL itself to do this job. From compiled
languages you'll access REBOL scripts and databases via REBOL/Command. Will
Command be usable for compiled languages other than C/C++?
5. XML is verbose, but that is not a problem
This point talks about how the text format of XML is larger than binary
formats and how with compression and large hard-drives this isn't an issue. The
same applies to REBOL, but even more so since it is less verbose than XML.
10. XML is license-free, platform-independent and well-supported
The most important statement in point 10 is "The large and growing support
means that you are also not tied to a single vendor." REBOL Technologies
is trying to be platform independent by producing binaries for popular
platforms, but this is no substitute for being free and open-source.
REBOL/Command is a most vital REBOL component and may not be freely available
as REBOL/Core is. Once you've chosen REBOL you're committed big-time.
-Karl Robillard
