Re: Fwd: [xml-dev] Not using mixed content? Then don't use XML

["Simon St.Laurent" <simonstl@simonstl.com>]

On 4/10/13 2:11 AM, Ihe Onwuka wrote:
> Of course the value of things we use and do should be challenged but
> here there appears to be alot of work to do before we can say that the
> X in this case can substitute for Y.

There is indeed a lot of work to do.  Unfortunately, schema-based 
approaches dominated markup conversation early and have rarely been 
challenged with alternatives.

I'm happy that these threads have turned up some people who use markup 
in ways that run counter to the dominant approach.  Unfortunately, it's 
painfully clear to me - because I mostly travel in circles where XML is 
considered a relic - that the more typical response to the dogma of 
schemas has simply been to leave XML behind.

I would like XML to have a future.  I do find it easier to work with 
this style of markup than with the compressed forms typical of, for 
example, JSON.

XML has much going for it, in particular a better understanding of (and 
tools for) transformation than its competing communities.

If we want XML to grow, though, we're going to have to incinerate our 
allegiance to schemas, and start valuing flexibility.

I recognize that most of those who are left in XML work for 
organizations in which the very brittleness of schema-based development 
is considered a plus rather than a minus, and that for the most part 
those organizations don't give a damn about whether XML grows or not. 
It works for them, right?

Hence this conversation.  I think XML has a bright future if we can 
develop practices for it that appeal to organizations very different 
from yours.  Otherwise, it will stagnate and rot, as it has done for 
much of the past decade.

So far, I have to say that this conversation is going far better than I 
expected.  The resistance I expected is present, of course, but as 
hammer and anvil meet we're generating more than just noise.  Something 
new is emerging from the forge.

Thanks,
-- 
Simon St.Laurent
http://simonstl.com/