xml-dev - Re: Is there anyone working on a binary version of XML?

[Paul Prescod <paul@prescod.net>]

"Stephen D. Williams" wrote:
> 
> Also imagine that when taking an XML 'document' into a program you 
> could search, modify, or copy the object without generating thousands 
> of object creates and deletes/garbage collection hits.  

I guess this is the part I don't understand. I can see how in C++ I could
just load a chunk of binary gunk and use casts to convince the computer
that it is really objects but I don't see how to do that in Java, Python,
Perl or other high level languages. And even if you get it working really
fast in Java will those same binary objects load quickly in any other
language?

Are you going to lazily build objects as the application walks the tree? 

> The point is that bXML is not designed to be editable by a text
> editor since it has more of a 'structured' layout, sort of like a 
> filesystem.

But note that a filesystem is not meant to be interpreted by more than one
program, especially not by programs written in multiple languages. You
call into the kernel (probably written in C) and it interprets the bits
for you.

Anyhow, if your "bXML" can be ASCII or Unicode then please make it so. 
-- 
 Paul Prescod  - ISOGEN Consulting Engineer speaking for only himself
 http://itrc.uwaterloo.ca/~papresco

"Perpetually obsolescing and thus losing all data and programs every 10
years (the current pattern) is no way to run an information economy or
a civilization." - Stewart Brand, founder of the Whole Earth Catalog
http://www.wired.com/news/news/culture/story/10124.html

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