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RE: XML multimedia specs -- help for the bewildered, please?

• From: "Bullard, Claude L (Len)" <clbullar@i...>
• To: Justin Couch <justin@v...>
• Date: Tue, 21 Aug 2001 08:27:31 -0500

I would be interested.  I supported the use of XML in 
VRML, and now find myself wondering how far off the 
mark I was.   DOM looked attractive, but very early 
in the discussions, it became evident that it is the 
wrong object model for high-performance, reliable 3D 
rendering applications.

Precisely because this is the XML Developers list, 
we should be exposed to the results of efforts where 
XML technology has proven a bad fit for the application. 
We should understand as best as we can where the 
boundaries are.  In the past, I have said that markup misapplied  
can be combination of kudzu and pine tree; spreads 
rapidly and tends to kill off other technologies around 
it.  This is because it looks like a universal solution 
to problems for which it is not designed, but the reasons 
are down in the guts of the application requirements.  

Perhaps XML.COM would be interested in an article from 
you, Justin.  Since you have written long and well about 
VRML and Java, and are a member of the open source group 
that is attempting to implement 3D applications in XML, 
your perspective is unique.

Len 
http://www.mp3.com/LenBullard

Ekam sat.h, Vipraah bahudhaa vadanti.
Daamyata. Datta. Dayadhvam.h


-----Original Message-----
From: Justin Couch [mailto:justin@v...]

As one of the Xj3D people, there is a bloody good reason for not liking
DOM. It never was, and never will be usefull for doing realtime
high-speed work. The event bubbling semantics kills any capability of
dealing with fast changing items, such as time or coordinate
transformations. Another facet of the problem is the text to datatype
and return journey. Cloth and spline animations (eg character animation)
are all but impossible to do with any speed using the DOM view of the
world. Should people be interested, I can expand on the event issues,
but I feel this is not a DOM-oriented list.

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