At 02:30 PM 1/15/2009 +1030, Geoff wrote: >Im not discounting that it is a standard. What I am debating is why it is >THE standard at times when it seem both unnecessary and counter-productive. >Some people seem so welded to XML they seem unable to think outside that >boundary. My question is (and remains) that in a CLOSED system (ie I am not >sharing the data with all and sundry - only with apps I have written) why ...
I think once you tear away all the hyperbole from everyone's messages, the answer is "No" there is no good reason to use XML in a CLOSED system. Of course, all the caveats should be observed. E.g. if such a CLOSED system has the possibility of one day being "broken apart" and would need to pass data to other systems, XML becomes more attractive - simply because it means both sides would only have to develop a minimal amount of code to exchange data. And then there is the "available tool" issue in that everyone under the sun has all kinds of tools to play with XML structured data. >I seem to have gotten under some people's skin on this topic - a bit like >when an innocent child asks an adult 'why?' to a difficult question and the >adult doesn't know the answer. I didn't start off to do this. I asked a >genuine question. I have not used XML before. I've never had a need and I think some (myself for sure) have had to deal with XML as the "hammer to build all solutions" mandated by PHBs. It has taken a lot of painstaking education of the PHBs, and even some supposedly techie types, to show that XML is not the Holy Grail. So to hear the same rhetoric espoused again on this technical list is like living the nightmare all over again. For others, pointing out problems with anything that MS recommends/uses, etc is a sin of epic proportion and detractors should be immediately purged of their wickedness. So yeah, tempers flared for various reasons, none of which really have anything to do with the actual technical design or specific issues XML addresses. XML has become a good way to share data across systems not because of technical merit, but because of vendor adoption. It has a lot of problems and should not be blindly used everywhere, but it does have it's place. -Charlie _______________________________________________ Post Messages to: [email protected] Subscription Maintenance: http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profox OT-free version of this list: http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profoxtech Searchable Archive: http://leafe.com/archives/search/profox This message: http://leafe.com/archives/byMID/profox/[email protected] ** All postings, unless explicitly stated otherwise, are the opinions of the author, and do not constitute legal or medical advice. This statement is added to the messages for those lawyers who are too stupid to see the obvious.
