Re: ASN.1 and XML

[ks@novosoft.ru]

Hello,

> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> Date: Mon, 28 May 2001 22:33:57 -0400
> From: Sharon Knowles <sharon@oss.com>
> To: xml-dev@lists.xml.org
> Subject: ASN.1 and XML
>
>
> On 24 May 2001, Simon St.Laurent wrote:
>
> > You've been making claims that ASN.1 is competition for XML.  I'd like
> > to see some backing for those claims.
>
> I was just getting caught up on my email and noticed the above.
>
> Al's view is one way of looking at ASN.1 and XML.  Others, such as
myself,
> view ASN.1 and XML as complementing each other very nicely.  ASN.1 makes
> it possible to encode XML markups very compactly using the Packed
Encoding
> Rules (PER) of ASN.1, while XML makes it possible to use common browsers
> to view messages encoded in PER or other ASN.1 encoding rules such as BER
> or DER.  More specifically, the coupling of ASN.1 and XML makes it
> possible for us to use XML with bandwidth-critical applications (such as
> wireless) that today XML cannot touch, or where current solutions for
> compacting XML messages leave much to be desired.
>
> Both ASN.1 and XML bring useful capabilities to the table, and the
> coupling of them to take advantage of the best that both have to
> offer is the best solution.  For this reason the ITU-T | ISO/IEC ASN.1
> Committee is in the process of making changes to ASN.1, to come up
> with a solution that is better than ASN.1 or XML by itself is capable
> of providing.

I fully agree with your view that ASN.1 and XML stand to complement each
other very well.  I would say that ASN.1 and the Packed Encoding Rules
are more of a competitor to Binary XML since PER produces more compact
encodings than Binary XML and has years of use as a reliable set of
encoding rules in applications such as Voice over IP and more recetly in
the likes of UMTS (next generation cellular telephone standard).  I
don't see ASN.1 and XML as competing technologies, but as two
technologies which when merged produce a solution that is better than
either alone provides.

Kirill