Friday, May 27, 2005
X M L ... 3 letters that are changing the lives.. of so many people..
X M L ... an offshoot but more widely accepted offspring of SGML
Its funny how it has changed lives...
The introduction of XML has sparked changes in any and every sector and organization. It has changed the way they do things, or is in the process of making them adapt to its will.
All that it is.. is a representation of a logical mental structure into a few simply structured pieces of text, which can ofcourse be nested and so on, taking it to the n'th dimension of complicated hierarchies.
Ofcourse, it has gone through the stages of applicability or use. I am sure when XML first came out it began to think like "Marvin" the super intelligent robot with genuine people personalities in the new movie The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy - 2005. When people downgraded it to the level of a textual exchange format of convenience, it probably grumbled just like Marvin, "A brain the size of a planet and they make me do this.."
Some thoughts about the stages of its usage evolution that come to my mind.. (Please feel free to send me some more, or post them as comments below. If you think one of them can be better stated feel free to comment. I shall update them here with due credit.)
Its funny how it has changed lives...
The introduction of XML has sparked changes in any and every sector and organization. It has changed the way they do things, or is in the process of making them adapt to its will.
All that it is.. is a representation of a logical mental structure into a few simply structured pieces of text, which can ofcourse be nested and so on, taking it to the n'th dimension of complicated hierarchies.
Ofcourse, it has gone through the stages of applicability or use. I am sure when XML first came out it began to think like "Marvin" the super intelligent robot with genuine people personalities in the new movie The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy - 2005. When people downgraded it to the level of a textual exchange format of convenience, it probably grumbled just like Marvin, "A brain the size of a planet and they make me do this.."
Some thoughts about the stages of its usage evolution that come to my mind.. (Please feel free to send me some more, or post them as comments below. If you think one of them can be better stated feel free to comment. I shall update them here with due credit.)
- The advent of XML
- Hmm.. ho hum.. a text based file that looks like HTML
- Hmm.. interesting text based format that looks like HTML
- Hmm..!!!.. wow, its such a convenient text based format for data exchange
- The "XML 'so.. what' curve"
- How about we use it to talk to each other? Since we could not agree on our conversations over the last 10 years.
- Would it be possible to use it to do more ? (Exciting Possibilities - Episode 1)
- Since we have so many firewalls and protocols that wont go through, how about we make them go through HTTP...
- Hey! We do not have function calls or remote procedures here. Lets do that with XML. Then we can do things like we have always done. Functions and Procedures.
- I dont like the way function calls work. Can't we send messages in a different way ? I am not able to get responses at times and I wouldnt mind a reponse when its due time.
- How about we send messages with more 'context-aware' information and we do not have to have a response rightaway ?
- ........ (to be continued.. maybe over the long weekend.. This shall take a twist towards the following in no particular order: SOA (another 3 letter buzzword), BPM :), Meta-Data, Models, Views, Relationships, Contextual Information, Perspective..... and more )
Food for thought:
If XML was animated and could say something today what would be XML's quote for the day?
"Where do you want to take me today?"
