Re:Don't Invent XML Languages (2006)
by userbinator on Saturday March 09, 2024 @02:28AM
(#39650112)
I can read from a hexdump a few binary formats I've worked with over the years. Not really harder than learning any other language, but much more concise than text-based formats.
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Given that I don't know what you do, that might be a completely reasonable solution, in your case.
My background is being woken up at 3AM by alert of call for systems where I have less that 100% familiarity and is asked to troubleshot. Looking at a hexdump for a format I don't know is not all that helpful. Seeming a mangled XML document, or reading the JSON output from an API call can frequently be enough to know if I need to call a developer, or if I can work with the client and fix the data.
Binary formats are absolutely a valid solution of a number of problems and if it works in your context there's no reason to change it.