On 04/29/2015 05:32 PM, Andrew Dalke wrote: > On Apr 29, 2015, at 9:19 PM, Dimitri Maziuk wrote: >> There is a difference between ACM members writing network protocols and >> "domain" people writing junk. > > I think that you are saying that the MDL connection table > file formats are junk. I do not disagree. But it's something > we have to deal with so my personal views matter little. > > The MDL file formats are definitely not network protocols, > but as you brought up Postel's Robustness Principle I > thought you were suggesting that the principle applies > more broadly than just network protocols. > > And for what it's worth, I used to be an ACM member.
Mee too ;) No, what I was suggesting is that something as well-defined as an RFC'ed protocol should not need Postel's principle in the first place. No, it should be applied to the stuff we have to deal with: that way we'll generate fewer "bad" files and the users will be happier when it doesn't crash on whatever stuff they have to deal with. Or at least not on every input file. > If the output is to a stream than there is no file to wipe. Yeah, there's that I suppose... > P.S. > "XML in this example ... is written by a ball street wanker." > > This slur is both gratuitous and wrong. You misunderstood: I was just rephrasing Tim's "Then it is clearly not OK to guess that someone just forgot the </amount> and </trade> but didn’t also drop a trailing zero or two. A programmer in a position of responsibility who did this would be spanked and maybe fired. A manager who mandated or authorized such an implementation would be spanked, maybe fired, and maybe subject to legal action." The problem there argument, though, is that XML is well defined and "Anyone who can’t make a syndication feed that’s well-formed XML is an incompetent fool" (ibid). Blaming Postel for incompetence of fools is like blaming Jesus for Salem witch trials. -- Dimitri Maziuk Programmer/sysadmin BioMagResBank, UW-Madison -- http://www.bmrb.wisc.edu
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