[XML-DEV Mailing List Archive Home] [By Thread] [By Date] [Recent Entries] [Reply To This Message] RE: Xml file sizes
Hi Wayne. You probably wouldn't design XML that way. If you used <person> elements with <name> and <address> children, you could use an XML query language (xpath for example, there are several) to ask questions of your document like "how many people live on elm street" or "give me the addresses of everyone whose name starts with J" Really, it makes little sense to look at an XML document and a (for example) csv file and try to decide which is better. You're more likely to make a good decision if you start with what you need to do with your data, and then explore how people have solved that set of problems for various data formats that exist today. In terms of discussions on this list, the general question "why choose XML over (something else) when XML is (more bloated)(too hierarchical)(not hierarchical enough)(not supported by the right tools)(too trendy)(not binary)(too document oriented)(too data oriented)(too arbitrary)(not restrictive enough)(too restrictive)(etc etc etc)" is a permathread. In particular, "XML files are too big" has been shown to be irrelevant to a significant majority of applications and very important within a very specific subset. If you are worried that your particular application will suffer performance-wise because you use XML, you should provide the details to the list and it's likely that someone with relevant knowledge can give you a fairly specific idea of what to expect, based on real world experience. ---->Nathan > -----Original Message----- > From: Byarlay, Wayne A. [mailto:wab@p...] > Sent: Monday, November 21, 2005 11:31 AM > To: xml-dev@l... > Subject: Xml file sizes > > Hello all. > > Well, an xml file has finally shown up on my doorstep. Before > last week, I only had a vague idea of what XML was; now I've > come to understand that it's a method for basically storing > data. However, something is bothering me. So, let me play > devil's advocate here. > > If XML uses tags such as <blablabla>This is my > data</blablabla>, is that not a lot of extra bytes to simply > declare the end of a field? > > And to take it a step further: if I have several records, but > the fields are always sequential, such as: > <my record> > <field1>Bubba Smith</field1> > <field2>123 Elm Street</field2> > </my record> > <my 2nd record> > <field1>Sally Ryder</field1> > <field2>123 Elm Street</field2> > </my 2nd record> > > ...Wow, to me, that just seems like many redundant bits of > data. So, how is XML better than, say, a file where the field > headers (and footers) are smaller? > > Sorry if this message is a waste of your time, but I am > really questioning the practicality of XML. maybe certain > platforms or languages process it faster? > > wab. >
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