Design-by-Committee

[Paul Foley]

On Mon, 07 May 2001 17:58:48 -0500, Michael Chermside wrote:

> While it is true that XML is overhyped, I agree totally with David. Let your
> mind drift back a few decades...

> <camera loses focus, then focuses in on new scene>

> Jane: This ASCII thing is the greatest thing that's happened to text data 
>   since the advent of the punch card!

> Carl: Blatant hype. You could already use EBDIC, BCD, or Hollerith. And better
>   yet, you can define a binary format. After all, if you're storing (for
>   example) dates, or fields like name or address which can contain only A-Z and
>   a couple of special characters like "-", then your filesizes can be
>   SIGNIFICANTLY decreased by using an task-specific encoding.

John: Blatant hype.  You could already use Lisp's S-expressions; it's
exactly like the XML that some clever-clogs will reinvent 40 years in
the future, but easier to use, better in various ways, and available
today...

> However, overhyped though it is, XML is VERY important. Because, like ASCII,
> it is fast becoming a universal standard. And though it solves only SOME of
> the problems of data translation, recognition, and structuring, it DOES solve
> some.

Bah; Rubbish.

-- 
Nomina stultorum in parietibus et portis semper videmus.        -- Cicero

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