XML size (was: no subject)

Chris Lyttle chris@wilddev.net
03 Apr 2002 18:08:39 -0800


On Wed, 2002-04-03 at 17:08, Paul Lussier wrote:
<snip flamage>

> Who began or what they asked for in the original post is, at this point,
> irrelevent to the conversation, which is now about whether or not an SQL
> backend is better or worse than an ascii backend.  Do you disagree?
> If so, can you please explain the relevancy to me, since I'm obviously
> missing the connection?
> 
Yes, I disagree but not about the original poster's message rather about
the relevancy of it. His 2 concerns seem to me to be speed and size of
the file. These 2 main points of his post seem to me to be very relevant
to what format is used and how it is used. So far your single argument
against using anything but text seems to be that you cant edit it with
emacs...
> 
> >How about being constructive and telling us some of the disadvantages
> >technically you see to using SQL instead of 'I dont like SQL cause I
> >cant open it with a text editor and change things'?
> 
<snip more flamage>

> I'm trying to learn something about software design and the decisions
> made in the process.  But so far, I have not heard an overly valid
> argument for moving the back end from an ascii based format to an
> SQL backend which would also be a major win for the user.
> 
> Everything stated so far has been essentially that it would be
> "easier to program it this way".  That, IMO, is not a valid reason 
> for changing it, at least not at this point.  There are more 
> important things which need attention, like incorporating major 
> feature sets.  Don't fix what ain't broke.  It's ugly, but it's not 
> broken.
> 
That hasn't been the only reason and there have been many valid
arguments put forward for using SQL which you dont seem to have
acknowledged. My reading of the posts of the various developers in favor
of this idea wasn't just that it would be easier to program it. As
someone who has a lot to do with maintaining systems and assuring that
user data doesn't get lost I agree with the assertion that putting the
user data into a db would give important advantages both to the user and
to the developers. In my experience with db systems they are a lot more
capable of not messing up user data than someone with a text editor
messing around in files that he probably wont understand the structure
of let alone whether it would affect the program that uses those files.

I have carefully read over what you have posted to make sure that I
understand where you are coming from in this. I still dont understand
why you think that being able to directly edit the data files is such an
overwhelmingly important thing. I also dont think you would be an
average user in this regard. Most of us are used to the fact that you
use the application that created the file to edit it. If there are
features that dont do what you want in terms of backup etc then let the
developers know!

Chris