Advogato blog for vdv

6 Nov 2003

Thu, 6 Nov 2003 08:22:42 GMT

salmoni: Re: interesting rant by Linus Torvalds. Got me thinking whether it really is worth the bother of using XML for my native file format. - It's really to each application to decide. The good thing is that you don't have to feel too guilty if you don't use angle brackets: if you keep your format simple, XML applications will still be able to integrate your documents. It's also a question of available tools: if you're using something like uche's Anobind you may find XML configuration files easier to parse than native files formats. And it's also a question of perspective: whatever development tool you're using, XML documents may remain more complex to read and edit by hand for your end users.

5 Nov 2003

Wed, 5 Nov 2003 20:32:36 GMT

Long time again since my latest entry!

This morning, edd has posted a link on a mail from Linus Torvalds about XML which is good food for thoughts...

I dare you. Prove me wrong says he before a rant showing that good taste and simple syntax is a MILLION times more readable than XML.

The interesting point is that Torvalds is right (could it not be the case?) and that he is also wrong.

He is right that simple text formats can be easier to edit and easier to read than XML documents, especially if you edit them by hand. He is also in his rights if he want to use good taste and simple syntax.

He is wrong if he assumes that good taste and simple syntax will save him from XML!

What many people miss to see (especially amongst XML zealots) is that what's important with XML isn't the syntax, not the angle brackets...

That's not because Torvalds uses good taste and simple syntax for his configuration files that I can't take a couple of hours to write a SAX parser for good taste and simple syntax and validate Torvalds' configuration files through a RELAX NG schema written with the non XML compact syntax. Zero angle brackets here, but still a XML application!

Hmmm... XML is only syntax and its syntax isn't important?

That's the XML paradox. Maybe, what's really important in XML is the quest for interoperability which has followed its publication. Maybe, after all, XML is a principle and not a technology?

BTW, have you noticed how straightforwardly Torvalds' demonstration can be applied to programming languages to show that Python (good taste and simple syntax) is a MILLION times more readable than C, Java or C# to name few?

3 Feb 2003

Mon, 3 Feb 2003 16:40:28 GMT

Done more work on Examplotron and the new architecture is still more promissing than I would have thought! The previous releases were nice toys showing a cool concept but with this release Examplotron becomes able to compete with the "big" XML schema languages. In fact, I think we've got here a simpler syntax to access the full power and flexibility of Relax NG with embedded Schematron rules.

25 Jan 2003

Sat, 25 Jan 2003 07:06:54 GMT

Long time since my last diary... Just been busy with my too many projects and most specifically my Relax NG book!

I have resumed work on two of my open source projects:

XSLTUnit: No major enhancements here, but a port from a Saxon specific extension to the EXSLT exsl:node-set() function. This makes XSLTUnit much more portable since it should run on any EXSLT compliant XSLT processor. Unfortunately this is not (yet?) the case with libxslt because of a couple of bugs related to the lack of support of a root node in the node set result.
Examplotron: Major redesign for Examplotron 0.5 which compiler is no longer generating a XSLT transformation but a Relax NG schema (with embedded Schemantron constraints when needed). The set of features is pretty much the same, the purpose of the intermediate release been to evaluate the impact of the changes. This will give a stronger base to the project and facilitate adding new features.

That's fun to see three of my unrelated projects starting to work together: XSLTUnit is now used to do unit tests on Examplotron and the result of the compilation of an Examplotron can be used as an input for xvif...

27 Aug 2002

Tue, 27 Aug 2002 11:17:11 GMT

Server migration

xname

XML-RPC

17 Jul 2002

Wed, 17 Jul 2002 11:27:22 GMT

Mailing lists

xml-server

xml-tips

OSCON

I am also packing to leave for the Open Source Convention in San Diego... An opportunity to meet a different community than at the XML Idealliance conferences which I love to attend and also to spend a couple of weeks in sunny California with my family: we've planed to follow the coast from San Diego down to San Francisco...