Re: [xml-dev] JavaScript (was Re: [xml-dev] Whither XML ?)

["Pete Cordell" <petexmldev@codalogic.com>]

Thanks for the interesting comments.

Re:

Original Message From: "Michael Kay"
> On 11/11/2010 12:34, David wrote:
>> My concern about JavaScript in the browser as the "VM of the Browser" is 
>> its lack of binary data support.
>
> I think the poor support for primitive data types is one valid objection. 
> ...

I don't think the x86 instruction set is particularly strongly typed. 
Strong typing is a property of the compiler, so I don't think this rules 
Javascript out of being the 'machine code'.

To do a Roger, I think the conclusion is that Javascript needs better 
support for processing binary data, although a PNG download based hack 
provides much of what is required.

Thanks,

Pete Cordell
Codalogic Ltd
Interface XML to C++ the easy way using C++ XML
data binding to convert XSD schemas to C++ classes.
Visit http://codalogic.com/lmx/ or http://www.xml2cpp.com
for more info

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Michael Kay" <mike@saxonica.com>
To: <xml-dev@lists.xml.org>
Sent: Thursday, November 11, 2010 3:16 PM
Subject: Re: [xml-dev] JavaScript (was Re: [xml-dev] Whither XML ?)


>
> On 11/11/2010 12:34, David wrote:
>> My concern about JavaScript in the browser as the "VM of the Browser" is 
>> its lack of binary data support.
>
> I think the poor support for primitive data types is one valid objection. 
> Another, expressed eloquently by Steven Pemberton in his talk at XML 
> Holland this morning, is that a language with weak data typing is 
> increasingly hard to debug as the size of the program increases: the 
> larger the program becomes, the greater the distance between the point at 
> which a program is wrong and the point at which the symptoms appear; so 
> development effort is much worse than linear with the size of the program. 
> This effect is very noticeable also with XSLT, where adding type 
> declarations to variables and parameters is the first thing I do when 
> asked for help in debugging a user stylesheet that lacks such 
> declarations. This objection is reduced a little if one regards Javascript 
> as an intermediate language which users don't actually write by hand. But 
> if one were designing a language for that purpose, Javascript isn't 
> exactly the language you would come up with.
>
> Michael Kay
> Saxonica
>
>
> _______________________________________________________________________
>
> XML-DEV is a publicly archived, unmoderated list hosted by OASIS
> to support XML implementation and development. To minimize
> spam in the archives, you must subscribe before posting.
>
> [Un]Subscribe/change address: http://www.oasis-open.org/mlmanage/
> Or unsubscribe: xml-dev-unsubscribe@lists.xml.org
> subscribe: xml-dev-subscribe@lists.xml.org
> List archive: http://lists.xml.org/archives/xml-dev/
> List Guidelines: http://www.oasis-open.org/maillists/guidelines.php
>
>