Real Men use XML, was quote, was Google Earth...

[Ted Roche]

On Nov 14, 2006, at 9:40 AM, Paul Lussier wrote:

> Is there anyway we could foster this into a real discussion on XML,
> what it is, what it's used for, why it's
> good/bad/evil/sucks-rocks/better-than-sliced-bread ?

We can if we start it.

A pocket summary sure to offend many and distort history a bit:

XML is a spinoff/outgrowth/subset of SGML, the Standardized General  
Markup Language. The idea of XML was to be simpler to use and create.  
It has few rules to create fully-formed and valid XML, so it's easier  
to get right in a text editor.

XML can be superior to plain text .conf files because it can  
introduce structure, character-set specifications and can be  
associated with a schema that can define and validate the document.

XML can be useful in many kinds of document exchange, like EDI, where  
current standards or protocols fail to sufficiently validate or  
strictly define the documents. (There's an entire sub-industry that  
makes money converting submitted documents of form XXX into the  
format expected by the recipient.)

XML can be overkill for .conf files that are just sets of name-value  
pairs, but once you get into nested sets and want to express values  
with valid ranges or characters outside of 0x01 to 0x7f, XML starts  
to be a better fit.

XHTML is an XML superset of HTML that's more consistent, easier to  
validate and easier to process.

Nearly every computer languages has XML parsers and XML factories to  
read and write the format. Most even work well together.

XML is useful in data exchanges where sender and receiver do not have  
to agree on much else other than to use XML and appropriate schemas.  
You can use code page 1252 while I convert the document to Unicode  
and others read it in other formats, as long as there are mappings.

The GNHLUG produces XML in the form of RSS feeds that are consumed by  
readers, aggregators and other machine processes to help us spread  
our news.

http://wiki.gnhlug.org/twiki2/bin/view/Www/WebRss?skin=rss

Confirm it's valid here: http://www.feedvalidator.org

In Hackers and Painters, Paul Graham refers to Java as the "magic  
pixie dust" of the last Web Bubble. Paraphrasing, "sprinkle it on any  
business plan and the VCs throw money at you." XML certainly has the  
potential to do the same for the Web 2.0 marketing Ponzi scheme. But  
there is some deep value in this stuff beyond exploiting VCs to buy  
bimmers for the CTO. Lots of specialty languages, all of which are  
valid XML have sprung up, making it easier to create and exchange  
documents: MathML, MusicML, OPML, and others.

Ted Roche
Ted Roche & Associates, LLC
http://www.tedroche.com