Fwd: [Tutor] More and more OT - Python/Java

[Max Noel]

(yes, forgot to CC the list again -- argh!)

Begin forwarded message:

> From: Max Noel <maxnoel_fr at yahoo.fr>
> Date: January 11, 2005 23:33:44 GMT
> To: Liam Clarke <cyresse at gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: [Tutor] More and more OT - Python/Java
>
>
> On Jan 11, 2005, at 23:15, Liam Clarke wrote:
>
>> Out of curiousity, having poked around XML while learning about the
>> JScript DOM, what are you using it for?
>>
>> AFAIK, you make up your own tags, and then parse them and display
>> them, and anyone else could create data using your tags.
>>
>> Only thing I've seen that uses XML (remember I'm a n00bie in Python,
>> Java, Jscript and HTML, so I don't see the real indepth stuff) is MSN
>> Messenger for it's logs. And MS IE can parse that XML.
>>
>> I've been curious as to how it's implemented.
>>
>> So yeah, if you want to share your experiences.
>>
>> Regards,
>>
>> Liam Clarke
>
> 	Well, I plan to use it as a data storage format for a university 
> project (crowd simulation in a shopping center -- coded in Java). I 
> hate binary data formats, and XML is a good unified way to store data 
> as ASCII text, so I figured I'd use it.
> 	Also, XML files can be parsed without too much work, so I can write 
> scripts that will manipulate my data files, in any language ("any" 
> meaning "Python", there).
>
> 	As a bonus, I've decided to have a look at XSL, which allows me to 
> format a XML file for display in a web browser. It entirely changed my 
> perception of web programming.
> 	I intend to program an on-line browser-based game with some friends 
> of mine later in the year (in Python of course -- I converted them), 
> and now that I've seen what XML and XSL can do, we're so going to use 
> them for data output: the data is in dynamically-generated XML, which 
> links to a (static) XSL stylesheet to tell the browser how to render 
> that data.
> 	Doing things that way has many advantages:
> 1) Data is separate from formatting. That's always a Good Thing(TM). 
> If I someday decide that I don't like the way the site looks, I 
> theoretically only need to recreate a stylesheet, without touching 
> anything else. (boom! Instant skins!)
> 2) Most of the "HTML rendering" is going to be done by the user's 
> browser. This, and the way XSL stylesheets are constructed will 
> prevent many bad HTML issues.
> 3) For the same reason, it will save bandwidth. The XML data will 
> probably take less space than the fully-formatted stuff I'd have to 
> spit out with "regular" HTML, and the XSL stylesheet can probably be 
> cached by the user's browser.
> 4) In the same line of reasoning, it'll also save CPU time: XML data, 
> being smaller, is generated faster than the equivalent HTML. Granted, 
> the stylesheet is another server request, but it's static, so it puts 
> virtually no load on a server.
>
> -- Max
> maxnoel_fr at yahoo dot fr -- ICQ #85274019
> "Look at you hacker... A pathetic creature of meat and bone, panting 
> and sweating as you run through my corridors... How can you challenge 
> a perfect, immortal machine?"
>
>
-- 
maxnoel_fr at yahoo dot fr -- ICQ #85274019
"Look at you hacker... A pathetic creature of meat and bone, panting 
and sweating as you run through my corridors... How can you challenge a 
perfect, immortal machine?"