Hi Jesse, > -----Original Message----- > From: Jesse Erlbaum [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Sent: Monday, July 21, 2003 8:50 PM > To: 'Patrick Galbraith' > Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subject: RE: templating system opinions (axkit?) > > > Hi Patrick -- > > > I like the idea of XSLT/XML, though I find myself trying to > > read between > > the lines of hype vs. something that's actually very useful. > > I don't know, > > so I don't have any opinions. I do know I'd like to use > > XSLT/XML so as to > > have a project to use it for, hence learn it. > > It's mostly hype in my experience. And not even very useful hype, like > Java or PHP, which are actually real things which people might want to > use. > > XSLT seems to be XML geeks' answer to CSS+templating. As if CSS wasn't > very successful, as if the world needed another templating system, XSLT > seems to have been invented to take the creative work of designing web > sites out of the hands of HTML designers, and put it in the hands of > XPath programmers. You know. Programmers who are really good at both > creative design and communicating with human beings. Not. > > Alright, pretty smarmy. But unless you just happen to have thousands of > XML documents sitting around on your hard drive, XSLT is a solution in > search of a problem. Most of my data is in a RDBMS -- not XML. To > enhance the *need* for XSLT, some databases will now return XML. That's > an interesting idea. Instead of using a mature language like > Perl|Java|PHP, let's use something like XSLT to turn my data into a web > page! It's new, shiny, and will solve the problem of TOO MANY people > knowing the other aforementioned languages. D'oh! > > Too cynical? Maybe. The fact that XSLT is still discussed in serious > company just bugs me. ;-) > > > > Not just that, but what about SOAP... Net RPC... I'd like to > > know where > > those fit in as well. > > Fantastic, useful stuff. > > > > I get so tired of Java types talking about how "perl is just > > a scripting > > language.. it's not an application platform/server like > > Dynamo/WebSpere/<insert $$$ java non-OS app here>". I even > > tried to crack > > a particular Orielly java book and was turned off on a statement like > > "Perl is good for proto-typing but not a full application > > server". Yes, > > there are a lot of prototypes getting millions of pageviews a day and > > generating signicifican revenue. > > You hit the nail on the head there: "Prototype" in Perl, and then just > keep using it! A strategy for the NEW "New Economy". > > > TTYL, > > -Jesse- > > > -- > > Jesse Erlbaum > The Erlbaum Group > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Phone: 212-684-6161 > Fax: 212-684-6226
It's nice to see that I'm not alone ;-) Without trying to start a "religious war", I think all the debate can easily slip to: "Is XML really useful?" I mean besides creating new job positions, new software, new frameworks, new problems to be solved, some overhead over processing simple text files, etc. But I shouldn't go in there... As for Java, unfortunately the Perl community is in my opinion in a no-win situation. I've seen lots of people in managerial positions hardly knowing how to read/write their emails using Outlook, not knowing that Perl even exists, but giving lessons about the Java usefulness; to quote a recent one: "You can't survive on the Internet today without Java". There is a "technical snobbery" that is hard to defeat since snobbery itself is human nature. But what would I know? Quit cheap philosophy and back to work... Lian Sebe, M.Sc. Freelance Analyst-Programmer www.programEz.net "I'm not mad. I've been in bad mood for the last 30 years..."
