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Guys, having read the threads on binary XML representation, here's a little braindump. I agree that one important reason to use XML is human-readability and the tremendous amout of software (e.g. parsers) that supports this format. In my opinion, however, there are extreme applications where in fact the textual representation of XML documents might not fit due to resource constraints - those applications include mobile applications such as WAP and very high-volume applications. In both cases, computing power is unlikely to be the reason to switch to a binary format - it is in many cases the limited bandwidth that is available for communication. Thus, I think that a binary representation of XML documents does make sense as a way to enable the use of XML in such extreme applications. WAP with its WBXML binary representation is the best example that it does make sense. As in WAP, it could be as simple as plugging in gateways for critical paths of communication. A generic binary format would take away the pain of creating specialized binary representations for different applications - WBXML is actually almost generic. I think the critical question here is: Can we come up with a one-size-fits-all solution that fits most relevant applications well enough to be useful? Comments? --------------------------------------- Stefan Zier Software Developer Syntion AG - http://www.syntion.com Leonrodplatz 2 - 80636 Munich/Germany Phone +49 89 52 30 45-0 Fax +49 89 52 30 45-20
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