Re: Why do you use XML?

Tech-Archive recommends: Repair Windows Errors & Optimize Windows Performance

jehugaleahsa@xxxxxxxxx wrote:
I have a simple request to anyone interested. We at work are aware of
the (so-called) importance of XML. We have laboriously attempted to
find practical uses of XML. However, in our environment, working with
XML seems like a complete waste of time. For instance, we pull data
from a database and send it to a database.

Recently I attempted to pull a space separated value file into an XML
format and used XSLT to convert it to a comma separated value file.
Well, XSLT doesn't work naturally for anything but XML. It was a waste
of time and it would have been easier to just send the SSV to a CSV
directly with some minimal coding.

Since we work primarily with databases and nothing in-between, I am
really starting to wonder if knowing anything about XML is really all
that useful to my life right now. That is why I would like for
everyone reading to tell me you opinions and practical experiences
with XML. Do you use XML as regularly as hype seems to say you should?
Do you use it in an environment that rarely goes outside of database
interactivity? Do you think XML is all that important to a developer
who can generally write code to perform the same task, potentially
with less effort?

I am personally take the point that XML is rarely needed tool, outside
of the occasional configuration file. And even then, all these tools
like DTDs, XPath, XPointer, XSLT, etc., seem even less used. I feel
like there is this enormous push for XML but see it as only useful in
environments where data is being passed out and about. Am I completely
missing the benefits of XML or is it just my environment?

I can see how it useful to save data out so it can be used later,
especially when a database is not involved. And XML is easier to read
than some pre-XML formats, but it also requires an enormous amount
more space. Thinking about a SSV file that contains over 4MB of data -
converting that document to XML usually triples (at least) the amount
of memory needed. And usually, here, software expects a non-XML
format. For me, it is like putting an extra level of code that not
only consumes an enormous amount of runtime, memory and development
time, but it also ends up not having any benefit at all in the end. I
suppose the world would be a better place if we all started writing
our applications to accept and output XML. I really need a way to
determine, from a developer's point of view, whether XML is a good
decision or just something that sounds good.

XML are widely used.

But as many other has said, then XML is not a good solution for
everything.

The strengths of XML are:
* standardized
* structured
* tools & libs support

In most cases the extra space are not a problem.

My understanding of your context is that you have app X
that exports SSV files and app Y that imports CSV files
and you need to convert from SSV to CSV.

In that context XML really does not provide anything.

You should go back to XML when one or more of the following
happen:
- app X and Y start to use XML
- you need to move non-rectangular data
- you need to deliver data to an external entity that you
don't know anything about

Arne
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: The data at the root level is invalid. Line 1, position 1
    ... generated XML (generated from a database.) In my development ... environment all is working fine. ... Don Wham ...
    (microsoft.public.dotnet.xml)
  • Why do you use XML?
    ... the importance of XML. ... from a database and send it to a database. ... Do you use it in an environment that rarely goes outside of database ... only consumes an enormous amount of runtime, ...
    (microsoft.public.dotnet.languages.csharp)
  • Re: Why do you use XML?
    ... Binary formats have issues such as "endianism" to deal with. ... the importance of XML. ... from a database and send it to a database. ... Do you use it in an environment that rarely goes outside of database ...
    (microsoft.public.dotnet.languages.csharp)
  • Re: Forth as "a better XML"
    ... and by Chuck Moore on the subject of XML in Forth or Forth Markup ... The main point I got from Chuck or Dr. Ting was that if you are working ... a foreign environment especially if you are in Forth only environment ...
    (comp.lang.forth)
  • Get variable data from function to pass back to main for use.
    ... I have data in a function where I am reading an xml ... Don't know how to pass array data back up. ... For Each Environment In Environments ...
    (microsoft.public.scripting.vbscript)