Re: XML Not good for Big Files (vs Flat Files)

On Wed, 05 Apr 2006 14:34:33 +0100, bugbear
<bugbear@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote, quoted or indirectly quoted
someone who said :


In the first example is 5555555 a phone number, or
part of the address?

The traditional way to handle that is either with a first line
consisting of field names, and also a separate document describing
each field in proper detail with what it means.

Have you ever written a computer program to submit something to a bank
or a the government of any country? The specifications for a single
file comes as a book. There are paragraphs on every field.

The XML description is just a fraction of the information. And, for a
flat file, there is no need to spell the tags out over and over and
over. Any programmer understands the first time. The repetition just
introduces the complication that the tags might NOT be perfectly
repetitive.

XML is for tree structured data. It is hopeless at anything else.
--
Canadian Mind Products, Roedy Green.
http://mindprod.com Java custom programming, consulting and coaching.
.

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