comment: XML as ASCII data format

[Mark Koennecke]

On Thu, 5 Apr 2001, Tanya Maria Riseman wrote:

> >XML offers a well-structured basis for an ASCII data format
> >
> >XML, extensible markup language, has all the components of data element >definitions and attributes;
> >this would offer a future-proof standard for defining SAS data. (John >Barnes) 
> 
> 	Based on my very limited experience with HTML: 
> 
>  1. It is a pain to type in the commands <longwindedname>
> 
>  2. It is easy to leave things dangling. i.e. forget </longwindedname>.
>   Then it might or might not work depending on the application.
>   I don't care with ASCII html files, but data is more important.
>   It is also a waste of time to fix.
> 
   Use a macro preprocessor which allows you to write:
     x(bla, blu, noeff)
   and creates for you:
    <extralongwindedname name=bla color=blu>noeff</extralongwindedname>
> 
>  4. Making tables in HTML is a nightmare of <this> and <that> between
>   every entry. Is it like that in XML for data sets? Blechhhh.
>   That will be enough to make me advoid it.
   Again use a tool.
.
>  6. Does anybody real (i.e. nomadic scientists) actually use 
>   XML directly? Can you use it as easy as typing a few numbers 
>   into a spreadsheet to do a magnet calibration? 
>
   I'am afraid not yet. But there is a lot of investment into XML these
   days. May be, some future version of excel uses XML as a spreadsheet
   format.

> 	On the other hand, I do not expect to get all the
>  goodies of "data element definitions and attributes" without
>  some overhead of complexity or typing. I just wonder if XML
>  is being pushed by the IT gurus as THE "future-proof standard"
>  while not actually being taken up by the intended users.
> 
   Well, I admit XML may not be the easiest thing to type. But as you
   rightly stated nothing comes witout a price. XML is not a language in
   itself but a rule how to define a language. It is a simplified version
   of SGML which did not find widespread acceptance because it was to
   complex. The benefits of XML are:
   - there is a standard way of file verification.
   - Through the stylesheet mechanism there is a way how to produce other
     representations from a XML file: i.e. take an XML data file, pass it
     through stylesheet1 and you get html, pass it through stylesheet2,
     you get a plain ASCII file etc.
   - Due to the standardized language structure, standardized parsers have
     already been produced for most major programming languages.  
   - XML is meant to replace html in the long run as the means of exchange
     on the WWW. This puts a lot of money and people behind its
     development.
   
   In short, XML is something which a computer can easily understand but
   is also human readable.

			Regards,

				Mark