XML overuse? (was Re: Python to XML to Python conversion)

[Tim Rowe]

On Fri, 12 Jul 2002 08:37:59 GMT, Alex Martelli <aleax at aleax.it>
wrote:

>Jonathan Hogg wrote:
>        ...
>> I'm not sure it is possible to "overuse" XML. 
>
>It is -- easily.  My pet peeve is the idea of using XML files for
>tasks that obviously need a real database, preferably a relational one.

I'd agree that XML + tools in general makes a poor substitute for a
proper DBMS (and so have most of the books I've read on it). But if
you want to move data between different databases, expecially if they
use incompatible DBMSs then XML is there as a very strong contender
(/way/ ahead of comma-separated variables). And if you're worried
about size, don't forget that it can be compressed for transfer (as
per Star Base, IIRC) , and any decent compression algorithm will make
easy work of all those repetitive tags.

>Let's try to avoid pro-XML hype in an attempt to counter the
>anti-XML hype that's suddenly burst on this group...:-)

Should we try to avoid being anti-XML too? It's not the only data
format you'll ever need, but it's pretty good at what it sets out to
do.