Re: [xml-dev] Memorable quotes from Balisage 2013

On Sun, Aug 11, 2013 at 6:02 PM, Gareth Oakes <goakes@gpslsolutions.com> wrote:

On 12/08/13 2:48 AM, "David Lee" <dlee@calldei.com> wrote:

>My *personal* take on this "XML is dead" hydra ... Is that XML is no
>longer 'sexy'.
>The new generation(s) want to build exciting web pages/apps.

I think what's great is that XML is now so pervasive that it is an
"unsexy" commodity. Clearly XML has given the IT industry in general a
good solid platform to build on in many areas. This should be applauded:
as a standard XML has done its job with aplomb.

Agreed. I've seen a lot of anxiety about e.g. XML vs JSON and I don't understand it one bit. XML is no longer as visible as JSON, but so what, really? XML is everywhere, absolutely everywhere; it's just buried deeply in the details. �The fancy Web apps which are going to JSON, and that community are a drop in the bucket of the wider informatics space where use of XML still dwarfs use of JSON, and of course CSV dwarfs both.

I do understand that XML had ambitions of ruling the Web, and of course it did not succeed in that. �Again so what? The Iberian explorers didn't discover an eastward passage to India, so they had to make do with a whole new world to plunder. �XML has had more than enough successes to offset its most visible failure.

So XML experts (I included) are bemoaning the reduced opportunities that are centered on XML expertise. �Well, guess what, there are no opportunities at all which are centered around JSON expertise. �We're lucky to have had our few years, and much of our grousing is just grass-is-greener misapprehension.

�

For those looking to the next generation of systems which blend rich
content with rich user experience then I think we still have a ways to go.
Like a pendulum, popular interest has currently swung away from structure
to the presentation side of things (evidence: html5, css3, jquery plugins,
etc.). What is the backswing going to look like?

Another good observation. I think this might have to do with the NOSQL revolution and developers in a gleeful hurry to throw off the BDSM shackles of SQL and strongly-typed languages. �While I'm no fan of BDSM-style data structuring, I also agree that the current trend has gone too far in balling up model, view and controller into one plate of spaghetti. There will be a backswing, and I don't claim a crystal ball on it, but I will say that for a decade now I've been working on XML technologies that combine reliably expressive structure with a modest degree of typing-by-description. �I think John Cowan's Balisage presentation gave another glimpse at this sort of approach, and I think there could be a small chance we could shoe-horn our ideas into this opening you describe. �One can always hope!

�

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