> When we used C, (I guess there's an entire generation
> that didnt need to learn it :)), one transferred data
> using structs.
> eg.
> /* from memory... */
> struct Foo {
> int i;
> char[] str;
> long j;
> };
>
> The Sender and Receiver were tied into explicitly
> knowing about Foo's structure - and so were considered
> tightly coupled, a bad thing.
>
Two C compilers on different architectures would represent that structure
quite differently. There's no data interchange there at all except between
identical machines with identical compilers running identical applications;
there's no scope for attaching metadata to the message; there's no scope for
validation... Where have you been all these years?
Michael Kay
http://www.saxonica.com/
