Quoth dev@archonet.com (Richard Huxton):
> On Wednesday 07 April 2004 18:19, Christopher Browne wrote:
>> The world rejoiced as amadorm@usm.edu.ec ("Manuel Amador (Rudd-O)") wrote:
>> > Database files, once they corrupt, you lose ALL data. Text files, once
>> > they are corrupt, cause you to lose only those settings.
>>
>> Unless, of course, they are in XML form, in which case, if they are
>> corrupted, you lose everything because they can no longer be
>> validated.
>
> Unless you're using one of my hacked-together Perl scripts of
> course, in which case you un-xml the file and then process it as
> text. And people say I don't know how to adapt to new technologies
> ;-)
That sounds like it's roughly equivalent to running "strings" on a
borken database file.
I'm fairly serious, here; if an XML-based format actually expresses
any structuring of the data, then it is every bit as fragile as any
binary format.
> On a serious note, the Gnome discussion that leaked over here seemed
> to be generating a lot of heat without much light. It seems unlikely
> that one size will fit all when "all" runs from a palmtop through to
> an application server supporting dozens of thin clients.
If it is already known that one size will not fit all, then trying to
have Gnome be a system that "fits all" seems pretty silly.
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