gnupic: gpsim development
Subject:
Re: gpsim development
From:
Scott Dattalo ####@####.####
Date:
7 Jan 2000 13:27:35 -0000
Message-Id: <Pine.LNX.4.05.10001070622520.7606-100000@tempest.blackhat.net>
On Thu, 6 Jan 2000, Anthony Tekatch wrote:
> Have you considered using XML?
<IDEAS>
<OPINION 1> Not for this application I haven't. My views on XML are that
it's a compromised protocol. I'm not saying it's not useful - the ability
to dynamically define attributes for example, is extremely powerful. But
think about it's purpose for a moment. You've got two things that want to
communicate. The way in which they convey information to one another can
be done many, many different ways. <UNNECSSARY SARCASM>Each new year of
college graduates finds a "better" way. </UNNECSSARY SARCASM>XML is
currently at the top of the evolutionary protocol chain. It has the
benefit of being both machine and human readable and it's extensible.
<SOAPBOX> However, in my very limited experience with it, I find that
the "human readable" feature not to be particularly useful. In other
words, in order for the machine to understand XML the language has to be
rigidly constructed. The verbose encapsulation shadows the information to
the point it's difficult for a human to read. An analogy would be to
browse the web and just looking at the html sources. So to make it easier
for humans to read, some kind of front end browser will be needed. The
communication sequence is thus: I have an idea, express that to my
browser, my browser converts it xml, the program with which I'm
communicating reads the xml, runs it through a parser, and finally
recieves the idea. XML is an unnecessary step in this scenario - you could
go straight from the browser to the machine. </SOAPBOX>
</OPINION1>
</IDEAS>
XML is useful for the web (and in many other places), but inappropriate
IMO, for this application. What do others think? Is it really a moot point
since the users of gpsim will mostly not even look at this context file?
What other benefits can XML provide? Even though I appear very negative,
I really wouldn't object to having an XML structured file.
Anthony, please don't take this personally. I'm having to deal with xml
for another application at work. I'm aware of both its strengths and
weaknesses. But like I said above, I have very limited experience and so
my opinions may be (probably are) unwarranted.
Scott
