Re: [xml-dev] It's too late to improve XML ... lessons learned?

[Stephen D Green <stephengreenubl@gmail.com>]

I still much prefer to do database work with varchar than with nvarchar. So many problems are caused by nvarchar. Apologies for the indulgent gripe. Developers in the West might see that as the cost of the benefits of XML. Not having to deal with Asian characters very often means there is little benefit in our software from being able to handle Unicode but for the sake of interoperability we put up where necessary with that pesky nvarchar. Converting to and from varchar is a nuisance, though. It should not still be that hard. 

On Thu, 13 Jan 2022 at 17:37, Michael Kay <mike@saxonica.com> wrote:

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> It's hard to believe now, but Unicode was once a very hard technology to sell.
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I was working closely with Japanese colleagues at the time. I think the sentiment was (a) they had spent years in standards committees negotiating compromises that met the requirements of all the Asian countries, and (b) they weren't going to accept something dreamt up by Apple and Xerox in California that ignored all the cultural nuances they had spent years refining.

But as so often happens with standards, the adequate solution today proved better than the perfect solution tomorrow.

Michael Kay
Saxonica

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Stephen D Green