XML: Contrary to popular belief, it doesn't always kill babies

Re:XML: Contrary to popular belief, it doesn't always kill b... by snprbob86 on Saturday February 19, 2011 @05:44PM (#2240134)

I have a strict NO XML policy in any codebase that I control.

It's not because I think that XML necessarily always kills babies, it's because I think that XML has never once been the best choice. "Does everything well enough, but I don't need to learn or develop a new technology" is not a valid reason to use it and there are plenty of valid reasons not to use it.

That said, XML has killed every baby I've ever exposed to it.

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Re:XML: Contrary to popular belief, it doesn't always kill b... by zdw on Saturday February 19, 2011 @06:33PM (#2240284)

Does this go along with your strict "NO WINDOWS" and "NO FUN" policies as well?

Seriously, there are places where XML is the right tool, which the poster does a fine job of bringing up.

There are a lot of places where it is not, but was used because something better for those specific use cases hadn't been invented yet - JSON is barely 10 years old, whereas XML's SGML roots go back over 30.

Whatever the case, we're better off with ANY structured data format than old delimited and fixed column width formats from the dinosaur days.

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Re:XML: Contrary to popular belief, it doesn't always kill b... by beej71 on Saturday February 19, 2011 @05:58PM (#2240172)

I've exposed it to the "structured document markup" baby, and it has cared for it quite nicely.

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Re:XML: Contrary to popular belief, it doesn't always kill b... by bpodgursky on Saturday February 19, 2011 @05:56PM (#2240166)

Do you count even things like ant buildfiles? I won't say that editing them is fun, but it's no worse than configuring any other build system.

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Re:XML: Contrary to popular belief, it doesn't always kill b... by xiongchiamiov on Sunday February 20, 2011 @03:25AM (#2241410)

Really? In my (admittedly limited) experience, ant was much more of a PITA than things like Rake and Scons.

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Re:XML: Contrary to popular belief, it doesn't always kill b... by beagle3 on Saturday February 19, 2011 @07:46PM (#2240489)

Well, Java is worse than most things, but even for Java - djb redo, recently implemented by Avery Pennarun (apenwarr) is better than everything else.

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Re:XML: Contrary to popular belief, it doesn't always kill b... by endtime on Saturday February 19, 2011 @08:09PM (#2240554)

If you're using Java, you've already given up on not killing babies.

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