The "database" doesn't have to be fast. The objects are stored in
memory during program execution. The penalty would only apply when
opening or saving files. If there is a decoding penalty during runtime
it would surely be negligible.
But the underlying premise of that argument, if I understand what you
are saying, is just wrong. You seem to be saying that a proprietary,
highly structured binary format cannot provide forward compatibility.
That is simply not true. ANY file storage system can provide forward
compatibility at very little cost. It is simply a question priorities
and the competence of the system designers.
I haven't designed forward compatibility into every single project I've
every done, but you can bet I have done that for any project that
anticipated having multiple releases in the field where file
interoperability would be a concern. Honestly, it isn't that hard. For
a system designer who knows what he's doing, it adds no more than 1% to
the system cost / time and can be done on ANY file storage platform that
I have ever encountered.
I get that Finale doesn't think this is important and is never going to
do it. I'm simply pointing out they make that decision at their own
peril because for people like me, it makes me less likely to buy every
upgrade.
David W. Fenton wrote:
On 31 May 2009 at 14:04, Craig Parmerlee wrote:
It is absolutely
routine. Today, with inherently extensible formats like XML, you would
have to go out of your way NOT to have forward compatibility. The
programming rule couldn't be simpler - handle all the objects you
recognize and ignore the ones you don't.
Text-based storage of relational database data is inherently very
slow. This is why no database that I know of uses XML as it's native
storage format, but instead uses a structured binary format for
storage and exports to XML when needed.
I realize Finale's files aren't stored in XML, but the same principle
can be used in ANY storage system.
But not efficiently.
I have been designing commercial business applications since 1973.
Trust me. Not only is it possible, it is easy to do has essentially no
cost when planned from the outset.
I disagree. Text-based storage of data will never be as fast as
binary storage with indexing and structured record formats.
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