RE: [xml-dev] XML For The Average Monkey

[cbullard@hiwaay.net]

" I hear you are returning to this forum from a 10 year sabbatical? "

I've never left in terms of reading it.  I am building XML-based  
systems again as a full-time job.  It wasn't a sabbatical.  It was a  
"XML Is Done; Use It When Needed Because It's Fully Baked".  And  
therefore, it was best to stay quiet because I had nothing to  
contribute.  Once back in the game, this is a good place to ask  
questions and compare experiences.  Everyone here has done this long  
enough that no serious question goes unanswered and otherwise, we know  
each other well enough to ignore the rest.

Part of the laissez-faire attitude for some of us is that XML-Dev (as  
development) once XML was published became a kibitzing forum and helps  
people understand the specification.  As a development list, very  
little is developed here.  Some abstractions are debated repeatedly.   
It isn't a matter of discarding "new ideas" but very few new ideas are  
presented.  For the most part new people who don't realize the world  
didn't begin when they entered it present old ideas and these are  
debated politely in case new conditions have emerged.  Minds aren't  
closed; they are skeptical by practice.

You might want to search the pre-xml archives for a phrase  
"object-oriented pixie dust".  Creating objects with markup is a  
perma-thread from the early days.  The problem as I recall was some  
optimizations simplify one problem for a little speed and create  
numerous problems in other applications.  Tim Bray called such ideas  
"premature optimization" and the answer has been "good stuff for some  
specialized processors doing specific tasks".

If you want a lexically concise answer, John Cowan is the better man.   
Amelia made a concrete suggestion.  That's the next wicket.

XML is used both on the web and off the web.  The speed of reading XML  
in and out of memory isn't the same constraint in all application  
domains.  Some XML documents are quite large by some standards.   
Others not so much.  When building large integrated document sets in  
say technical publication applications, if an OID complicates the  
production process and toolsets by a fraction without an offsetting  
measurable and explainable gain, it will be discarded.  If XML is  
re-architected such that it is required, XML will be discarded.

len