RE: [xml-dev] Penance for misspent attributes

From
Bill de hÓra <>
To
Date
2002-05-17T01:13:31Z
ID
<001201c1fd40$0f99da80$887ba8c0@mitchum>
Thread
RE: [xml-dev] Penance for misspent attributes
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Arjun,

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Arjun Ray [mailto:] 
>
> Much of that, I think, has to do with the generally 
> underacknowledged impact of existing software on ways of 
> thinking.  If the software doesn't support something, the 
> tendency is to ignore it or to find workarounds, and in any 
> case, not to investigate too closely what it fails to 
> support. The downstream effect is an implicitly constrained 
> approach to design issues where everything is organized 
> around what the software does happen to support, only.  For 
> instance, Simon wrote:
> 
> : A lot of people have been storing data in attributes rather
> than in : element content.  There are lot of reasons for this, 
> ranging from a more
> : compact form to simpler processing in SAX.  (Attributes are 
> presented as
> : a convenient group, while you have to wait for child elements)
> 
> Hidden here is (IMHO) a deep critique of SAX as a useful API. 

I don't know. XML modellers faq:

Q: Why are you putting stuff in attributes? 
A: I can't be arsed to code a buffer.

Seems more like gonzo laziness to me. Otherwise what you said makes
lots of sense.

Bill de hÓra

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