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Re: Not using mixed content? Then don't use XML

• From: "Simon St.Laurent" <simonstl@simonstl.com>
• To: "xml-dev@lists.xml.org" <xml-dev@lists.xml.org>
• Date: Mon, 25 Mar 2013 14:11:35 -0400

On 3/25/13 1:54 PM, Peter Hunsberger wrote:
>     It *does* make for a correlation.  But correlation is not causation.

I would argue - based on the history of the standards and the tools - 
that there is indeed causation as well as correlation.  Most humans 
respond primarily to correlation in any case.

(As in, when I tell people I wrote XML: A Primer, a common response is 
"XML.  Schemas.  XSLT.  Barf."  Every now and then I get "your book made 
me rich!", but that's occasional.)

> No, XML shows up in all kinds of development projects and it's
> appearance has no correlation to the project management style (waterfall
> or not).  The only correlation is between legacy / enterprise type
> projects and "waterfall development".  XML is an innocent bystander to
> that mess (in spite of the fact that Simon spotted it at the scene of
> the crime)...

I fear that this is not (remotely) my experience.

There are occasional movements in XML simplicity - I keep the rarely 
visited Common XML <http://www.simonstl.com/articles/cxmlspec.txt> 
posted as a reminder.

There are also a substantial number of people who effectively use a 
DTD/schema-free subset because they've retreated to the simplest subset 
possible.  Some I've met came from XHTML and just figured they could use 
the same syntax.  There is certainly "POX", which emerged from some 
combination of this and web services.

I don't, however, remember anyone teaching this as XML best practice or 
publishing extensively on it.  I don't believe it remotely qualifies as 
"mainstream XML".

Thanks,
-- 
Simon St.Laurent
http://simonstl.com/

• References:
  • Not using mixed content? Then don't use XML
    • From: "Costello, Roger L." <costello@mitre.org>
  • Re: Not using mixed content? Then don't use XML
    • From: "Simon St.Laurent" <simonstl@simonstl.com>
  • Re: Not using mixed content? Then don't use XML
    • From: "Simon St.Laurent" <simonstl@simonstl.com>
  • RE: Not using mixed content? Then don't use XML
    • From: "Toby Considine" <Toby.Considine@gmail.com>
  • Re: Not using mixed content? Then don't use XML
    • From: "Simon St.Laurent" <simonstl@simonstl.com>
  • Re: Not using mixed content? Then don't use XML
    • From: James Fuller <james.fuller.2007@gmail.com>
  • Re: Not using mixed content? Then don't use XML
    • From: "Simon St.Laurent" <simonstl@simonstl.com>
  • Re: Not using mixed content? Then don't use XML
    • From: Peter Hunsberger <peter.hunsberger@gmail.com>
  • Re: Not using mixed content? Then don't use XML
    • From: John Cowan <johnwcowan@gmail.com>
  • Re: Not using mixed content? Then don't use XML
    • From: Peter Hunsberger <peter.hunsberger@gmail.com>