From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.4 (2020-01-24) on polar.synack.me X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-0.4 required=5.0 tests=AC_FROM_MANY_DOTS,BAYES_00 autolearn=no autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: 103376,55958fd991db66fe X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public X-Google-ArrivalTime: 2002-09-09 07:02:44 PST Path: archiver1.google.com!news1.google.com!newsfeed.stanford.edu!logbridge.uoregon.edu!pln-w!extra.newsguy.com!lotsanews.com!nntp1.phx1.gblx.net!nntp.gblx.net!nntp.gblx.net!newsfeed.news2me.com!newsfeed2.earthlink.net!newsfeed.earthlink.net!stamper.news.pas.earthlink.net!stamper.news.atl.earthlink.net!harp.news.atl.earthlink.net!not-for-mail From: Marin David Condic Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada Subject: Re: Advantage of XML based GUI? (was Re: Ada-inspired OS/Language) Date: Mon, 09 Sep 2002 10:02:11 -0400 Organization: MindSpring Enterprises Message-ID: <3D7CA9E3.51C3015A@acm.org> References: NNTP-Posting-Host: d1.56.b4.a5 Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Server-Date: 9 Sep 2002 14:02:43 GMT X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.07 [en] (WinNT; I) Xref: archiver1.google.com comp.lang.ada:28791 Date: 2002-09-09T14:02:43+00:00 List-Id: Trendy is nice, but there could be a technical advantage as well. Suppose you had an underlying Ada OS that had as one of its parts a graphics engine that interpreted XML-based markup to control the screen. The OS and any apps simply send properly formed markup to the engine to get things rendered and receive back XML markup for user supplied data. Assuming the scheme is well thought out & executed, you get some nice advantages. Change the engine and you can change the look&feel of all the apps - easier to create distinction between different OS releases. If you use an existing XML standard the apps become instantly portable. If the interface to the engine is properly thought out, it should be no big deal to make an app work across a network. Another OS could run the apps simply by providing a compatible engine. From a low level an app can simply send/receive&parse XML, but a skin could be built on top of it to provide a more traditional calling interface for a windowing scheme. Build a different skin - get a different API with possibly different features. The advantage is that you can disconnect the apps/OS from the graphics display through an intermediary language, much like what web browsers do for the Internet with html. MDC -- ====================================================================== Marin David Condic I work for: http://www.belcan.com/ My project is: http://www.jast.mil/ Send Replies To: m c o n d i c @ a c m . o r g "I'd trade it all for just a little more" -- Charles Montgomery Burns, [4F10] ====================================================================== Larry Kilgallen wrote: > > > I think the point is that XML is trendy.