[XML-DEV Mailing List Archive Home] [By Thread] [By Date] [Recent Entries] [Reply To This Message] Re: DOM's javascript roots (was Re: Have JDOM / XOM
--- Robin Berjon <robin.berjon@e...> wrote: > It is an urban legend. How you use the DOM varies > not only from > language to language but also from implementation to > implementation. But this is beyond the point -- it's the perception of DOM usage being the same. Managers only see this supposed increase in inter-operability (which, like you point out, is a fallacy in reality). > > Part of the reason of which probably is that, > since > > DOM was created FOR Javascript (standardized what > > Netscape had built for its needs) > > No, I don't think that's true. If the DOM had been > created for > Javascript it would be a *lot* less horrible than > all the hoops it > had to jump through to support utterly braindead > languages like Java. Huh? Yes, going towards lowest common denominator caused even more problems (more so than cleaning up some of NS mess -- yes, DOM standard did some cleanup, after NS hacked 'version 0'; but no fundamental changes): but those have little to do with Java, and more to do with scripting vs. non-scripting language differences. Fact is that "DOM0" (model Netscape created for its browsers, and that was the starting point for DOM standard process) was written for a scripting language (Javascript -- or, they co-evolved); and of course it then happens to be more convenient to use from a scripting language than from a more static language (Java, C/C++, C#, ...). Programming languages generally show traits of what they were built/planned to be used for: C for writing OS, Pascal for teaching CS, C++ for phone switches (or something more sinister judging by its complexity), Java for multiple things during its development (1.0.2 seemed like it was designed to be used for implementing web browsers). Ditto for APIs: even though DOM was to be cross-language, it still has its roots in that dang Netscape browser, cobbled together to allow nifty new dynamic features. And of course its use for XML was an afterthought as well: it all started with HTML. Is it any surprise that namespace support, then, was an ugly bolted-in monstrosity? Few people then understood namespaces, and not many do now. Barking at Java is pointless; all the other current mainstream OO languages (plus C) would have similar constraints on API design; and like Elliotte pointed out, everything for everyone (aka "general solution to the general problem") is a recipe for failure. -+ Tatu +- __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com
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