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=-1.9 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00 autolearn=ham autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: 103376,a26758eec3c2e1ad X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public X-Google-ArrivalTime: 2002-06-12 10:53:47 PST Path: archiver1.google.com!news1.google.com!newsfeed.stanford.edu!newsfeed.berkeley.edu!ucberkeley!logbridge.uoregon.edu!canoe.uoregon.edu!hammer.uoregon.edu!skates!not-for-mail From: Stephen Leake Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada Subject: Re: Use of XML for config files Date: 12 Jun 2002 13:53:45 -0400 Organization: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (skates.gsfc.nasa.gov) Message-ID: References: <3CFC5DB2.A21DCF61@cs.tu-berlin.de> <4519e058.0206041129.5b250124@posting.google.com> <4519e058.0206100702.5a4b431a@posting.google.com> <3D0769F7.68F5BD9C@san.rr.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: anarres.gsfc.nasa.gov Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii X-Trace: skates.gsfc.nasa.gov 1023904857 10577 128.183.220.71 (12 Jun 2002 18:00:57 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@news.gsfc.nasa.gov NNTP-Posting-Date: 12 Jun 2002 18:00:57 GMT User-Agent: Gnus/5.09 (Gnus v5.9.0) Emacs/21.2 Xref: archiver1.google.com comp.lang.ada:25811 Date: 2002-06-12T18:00:57+00:00 List-Id: Darren New writes: > Ted was talking about the code being smaller, not the config file. > > It is far easier to split a string at an = than it is to parse even > restricted XML. Well, yes. But the difference between a 671 line package and a 100 line package is pretty unimportant, in my view. > > Depends. (On the design of the (implicit or explicit) DTD. > > No, it doesn't. XML requires balanced start and end tags, it requires quotes > in attributes, it requires that less-than and ampersand in PCDATA be > escaped, none of which is true for INI formats and all of which is true > regardless of the DTD. Good points. quoting quotes is also required. > I think the question you have to answer clearly, if you're advocating XML, > is what benefit does it offer this project above and beyond the capabilities > that an INI-format file would offer? Yes. So far, I see two benefits: 1) A standard small parser is already written; Glib.XML 2) The potential for an application to grow smoothly beyond a simple config file to a full-fledged XML file. Hmm, there is a third benefit; we get to use a current buzzword :). Benefit 1) is not a big deal; it would not be that hard to write another small parser. -- -- Stephe