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So What's Wrong with XML?

Not much. Except that it general it creates BIG datasets. In fact, the XML spec states: "Terseness in XML markup is of minimal importance". Some typical numbers: a colleague's recent ASCII database dump of about 9MB turned into 25MB in XML for network transfer. Why is this a problem?
 
An oft-quoted(?) technology axiom states (approximately): "Bandwidth and batteries do not follow Moore's Law". That is, whilst CPUs roughly double in performance every 18 months, other more "mundane" technologies don't. Some examples:
 
In other words, compactness in data encoding will always be important in networking.
 
Lecture 24: Data Formats and Encoding -- A Philosophy Lecture Copyright © 2005 P.Scott, La Trobe University Bendigo.


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