DaveNet 1998 Review: XML
XML is a file format, a way to move information from one machine to another, from one piece of software to another. 2/22/98.
Relational databases will not go away, but a new kind of database will take root. Object databases, ones that can manage heterogeneous, non-tabular information. In other words, XML is more general than the relational form. Relational databases will only be able to manage a subset of XML. 2/22/98.
Ray Noorda, the founder of Novell, called this "coopetition", a mixture of cooperation and competition. It reminds me of the interapplication scripting community on the Mac in the early days. People have to try to get together, even if they compete, perhaps *especially* if they compete. And it's also the way of the net. XML is moving forward thru coopetition. Something interesting is happening. Seriously.2/23/98.
The religion of XML is the same as the religion of content management -- form separated from content. This year we want to render as HTML and Postscript. As long as the content is specified in XML, today's rendering technique doesn't limit us from going forward with new rendering techniques in the future. 2/25/98.
It's RPC over HTTP via XML. I believe it's the next protocol for runtimes. We'll be posting more notes on this on Scripting News over the next few weeks. Please, if you care about the independence of the Internet, tune in. Thanks! 2/27/98.
How do you get airtime? Pay them money. 3/5/98.
I want to break out from behind HTML-imposed barriers, but I don't want to give up the low-tech understandability of HTML. 4/2/98.
It's hard work to be compatible, but that's where the juice is, the real power in the software industry. 4/9/98.
This week I've been writing scripts that run on another machine using the new XML-over-HTTP protocol. We're using it to manage our website. The role of XML is changing for me as I build applications where it's used but not visible. 4/8/98.
How will we know that each of the parsers can understand what other software understands? The answer is disturbing -- unless we, as an industry, take some steps now, there will be no guarantee. That means XML will head down the same path as CORBA and HTML, with compatibility expressed in terms of products instead of standards. 6/4/98.
A procedure call is the name of a procedure, its parameters, and the result it returns. 7/14/98.
He said that the next releases of two of their mainstays, Director and Dreamweaver, would both do XML beautifully and do it on both Mac and Windows. 11/13/98.
