XML, the Silver Bullet



  • From Software Development Amidst the Whiz of Silver Bullets...


    I was recently reviewing a software design document that correctly
    paid much-needed attention to the objective of supporting configurable
    behavior. As opposed to simply documenting how the design would
    accommodate said configurability, the design description also included
    the following commanding statement a number of times: "The
    configuration data will be stored in XML." I immediately thought to
    myself, "Wow, this design must really be good" and was relieved from
    previous concerns that some form of ancient Egyptian hieroglyph may
    have instead been the representation of choice.

    Still reeling from the powerful implications of what I had read, I began to wonder if placement of any content in the context of XML would somehow lead people to believe it to be of hallowed or divine origin, and having some implicit warranty of accuracy or correctness. I decided to test this premise and composed an e-mail to my 12-year-old daughter, hoping to sway her on an opinion she has been very unwilling to yield upon many times in the past:

    <sanctified_declaration>



        <addressee> Alanah </addressee>



        <message> Hi Sweetie, I really am not the weirdest Dad of all the kids in your school.



            Love, Dad.



        </message>



    </sanctified_declaration>



    Found via Slashdot. Given all the joking/conversation about XML we've had on this site, I thought you might enjoy.



  • I have a couple of 2.5 year old boys.  Every we see the commercials for Nova's Elegant Universe, I ask them what it is(there are a bunch of squiggly rings floating around in the commercial), and they enthusiastically reply "String Theory"!

    Last night's new words were "M-theory" and "wormhole".


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