[XML-DEV Mailing List Archive Home] [By Thread] [By Date] [Recent Entries] [Reply To This Message] Re: Re: XML and the Relational Model
Ah, the attack of the relational reactionaries! This sort of thing has been going around the comp.text.xml newsgroup for months. I've been wondering how long it would take to get here. The nature of the attack (or troll) is to set up a straw man and knock it down, then try to extend that "logic" to question the need for XML anywhere, anytime. Here is the straw man in the current thread: > Folks who have said that all the benefits > of RM can be had in XML...Folks who have > also said that XML is a "better" technology for large data stores than RM Of course, any "folks" who said such things would be talking nonsense. Relational database is a mature technology with mature, trustworthy suppliers. Relational database has sound theoretical underpinnings, a decent query language and three decades of performance-tuning experience, but just as important it has solid implementations that reliably deal with practical issues like data model evolution, concurrent transaction processing and backup/recovery. In other words, the management part of database management. XML is a way to represent structured information as text. It has one established transform language and a couple more in design. There is no management component. Comparing it to relational database is like comparing a glider to an airline. On the other hand, the notion that XML needs to be justified by some kind of "proof" is just ludicrous. Technologies are justified by utility. Thank heaven relational database vendors have more common sense than relational zealots. The former know that relational database is not threatened by XML, any more than it was threatened by "object database" in the '80's. At most, it is another import/export format and a performance/tuning issue. Bob Foster
|
PURCHASE STYLUS STUDIO ONLINE TODAY!Purchasing Stylus Studio from our online shop is Easy, Secure and Value Priced! Download The World's Best XML IDE!Accelerate XML development with our award-winning XML IDE - Download a free trial today! Subscribe in XML format
|