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Michael:
>These are both legitimate XML documents. The question is, what are you
>trying to achieve? If you use XML markup around the data, then an XML parser
>(and tools such as XSLT) will understand it. If you use commas, then you
>have to parse it yourself. If you want to parse the data by hand, then why
>use XML in the first place?
Well... now that you asked. In my industry (i.e., petroleum
exploration) we have different formats for storing and retrieving a
large variety of data, some formats are very efficient and others are
less. The format I am currently reviewing is known as "LAS". If
interested, you may review the specifications at:
http://www.cwls.org/las_info.htm
It is my opinion, that the format is simply a stop-gap between the
old hard-copy and converting everything to digital. As such, I am
investigating different means to store and access such data -- I am
considering xml for that purpose.
Now, is xml a good thing or not -- I don't know. I just know there is
a lot of buzz about it and many different companies (such as Apple)
and organizations (such as w3g) embrace it. Should they? I don't know
and I don't have the smarts enough to understand all the nuances and
ramifications of their decision. But, I figure that others do and
that's the reason for my questions to this list.
I hope that the end result of this "conversion" would be that my
brethren could review such converted LAS documents via a common
browser.
I know that I can easily write a parser that will take the LAS data
and convert it to xml -- once I understand the rules -- in that I
don't see as a problem.
In addition, on-line, I can also write a perl cgi script to do the
conversion and/or flash application to review the data. But first, I
need to pin down what would be the "best" way to store and
subsequently access the data. Would it be best to leave the data as
it is? That has it's good points. Or, would it be better to convert
it to xml and become more into the main-stream of tech-think? I'm
sure that has it's good points too. But, I don't know and thus, the
reasons for my questions.
Many thanks for your review and kind consideration.
tedd
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