On 4/14/06, Gregg Wonderly <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
> Those who are happy to use a programming language's native bit formats, or
> other
> standardized bit streams (read published protocols that are not XML oriented),
> don't have to have such tools, pay for them, or pay to learn about them.
>
> That is the point that I was driving. Sure, XML is a way to structure bits.
> But, it's not at all necessary.
I certainly agree that XML is neither necessary nor sufficient, and
agree with what I think the thrust of your pushback against the HTTP
zealots -- having a small, universal set of operations to send data
around is fine, but that begs the hard question of what the syntax
and semantics of the "resource representations" might be.
Still, I have to point out some of the things that XML does offer over
"standardized bit streams"
- Platform / language neutrality. My integer representation of "42"
may be a different set of bits than yours, but <answer>42</answer> is
the same (net Unicode encoding issues, which XML does have a mechanism
to handle).
- Unlike published protocols that are not XML oriented (ASN.1 comes to
mind) you do NOT need to buy expensive tools or get specialized
training to work with XML. Basic XML technology is "free" on every
viable platform these days, and there are books, fancier tools, and
all sorts of other resources available if you have to go beyond the
basics.
- Expertise on specific binary formats/protocols is generally
expensive and limited. I don't know much about this area, but I have
heard a couple of people in the military communications industry
lament about how steep a price the US government pays for all those
specialized binary formats and protocols (each of which has only a
handful of people on earth who can work with them well), and how they
are lured by the vision that XML offers.
Of course, the downside of the XML is that it takes more bandwidth and
processing power to work with, so XML is not always appropriate. But
unless you are REALLY in a closed environment (and you KNOW that
nobody is going to come along and ask to to interoperate with that
stuff the competition produces) , or you are in an environment where
XML's overhead is a real bottleneck, XML probably should be the
default option for new formats/protocols at this point.
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