Future of LISP. Alternative to XML. Web 3.0?

I am very interested in Internet technologies. I consider that they are
so an important revolution as transition from mainframes to PCs was in
the past.

Some time ago, i was newbie and i promoted XML as fascinating future
for the web (aka comunication).

When you do intensive research and usage of XML you find very
disturbing stuff in the XML design. For instance that contrary to
common sense the first child in

<book>
<title>$$$</title>
<author>----</author>
</book>

is *not* the title element!

Moreover, verbosity is a factor (even 10x the size!). That is at the
one hand hype claims that size reduction from transition from HTML
table layouts to CSS design _is_ important, but after XML format is
2-10 times size of other formats. how can a 60% reduction be so
applauded whereas 1000% reductions ignored?

I know many alternatives to XML. Some focus to some subset, example
improvements over XSLT, or input syntaxes for (X)HTML. But there is not
many approaches focusing to provide us an reliable alternative to XML
as a whole.

I know SXML from the Scheme comunity. It is a very good approach. Any
XML doc can be representated in SEXPR and evaluated with Scheme. Cool!

<section>
<title>Introduction to LISP</title>
<para>In this section, we will see the formal properties of
S-EXPR...</para>
...
</section>

becomes

(section
(title "Introduction to LISP")
(para "In this section, we will see the formal properties of
S-EXPR...")
...
)

in S(cheme)XML [1].

There is not new LISP since many time, and projects as that of Arc
appear to me to be 'dead'.

Contrary to P. Graham i do not think that future of LISP would be just
a new dialect [2]. I think that a more fascinating future would be an
web-based LISP.

I am not saying that LISP was not used online today. I am claiming for
an alternative to the XML web becoming from LISP.

That is, i am not claiming that LISP server can be used for generation
on fly of HTML. But that LISP would be at the server (instead XSLT), at
the browser (instead Javascript, instead DOM), at the home (.lsp .lisp
files instead .xml .html), etc.

Would not be fascinating if the evolution of CL was towards a new
standard, clean and specially oriented to web?

What future do you want for the web?

1) W3C XML. With all known fiascos [3]: FO, XSLT 2, MathML, XHTML 2,
SVG 1.2...

2) Microsoft Avalon/XAML. Ampliation of XML. Does not use W3C
technology but propietary markup, i.e. not CSS, not XHTML, not XSLT,
not SVG...

3) WhatWG. A new very critized HTML version usually known as HTML5.
Include a XHTML version compiting (incompatible) with W3C XHTML 2.

4) A new LISP 'dialect' for the web instead Arc, a kind of ISO
standarization of S(cheme)XML with modifications.


Would a ISO standard for an alternative to XML save all of us?

Would a ISO standard [4] kill social perception of LISP?

[1] http://www-128.ibm.com/developerworks/xml/library/x-syntax.html

[2] I agree that CL can be cleaned and actualized.

[3] No browser implements FO or c-MathML. Adobe has abandoned SVG, next
ECMA Office XML standard does not use SVG. Microsoft support XSLT but
does not embrace XSLT 2. WhatWG promotes Canvas alternative to SVG. No
browser vendor is interested in XHTML 2 and none supports it. Etcetera.

[4] I know DSSSL 'fiasco'. XSLT is much based in DSSSL.

.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Macro lambda list
    ... > need to care what language it's written in, ... and XML maps really well to Lisp ... A standard way to pass parsed XML ...
    (comp.lang.lisp)
  • Re: Future of LISP. Alternative to XML. Web 3.0?
    ... using s-expressions instead of XML, nobody is going to use it, ... because it's cheaper to keep the existing XML software and continue ... XML-MAIDEN format or to HTML format and next displayed via standard ... or a CanonML or LISP browser. ...
    (comp.lang.lisp)
  • Re: Future of LISP. Alternative to XML. Web 3.0?
    ... rather than directly replacing HTML for Web pages. ... S-expr are more concise and easy to parse than XML. ... For today LISP ...
    (comp.lang.lisp)
  • Re: Macro lambda list
    ... Lisp is basically a perfect language for SOA -- it ... and XML maps really well to Lisp ... A standard way to pass parsed XML ... Support libraries for some of the WS-* standards, ...
    (comp.lang.lisp)
  • Re: Future of LISP. Alternative to XML. Web 3.0?
    ... an alternative to the XML web becoming from LISP. ... Why would you want to rebuild the web protocols in Lisp? ... But that LISP would be at the server (instead XSLT), ... Would a ISO standard for an alternative to XML save all of us? ...
    (comp.lang.lisp)