RE: The OS/400-Java "impedence bump" -- JAVA400-L

XML is no better than any other communications type?  You have got to be 
kidding me.  Compare XML against your favourite binary protocol (ASN.1 
perhaps?) on the criteria of standardisation, cross platform tool support, 
interoperability testing and industry usage.   Nothing is going to beat 
XML.   In fact the most popular binary protocols are being reformulated in 
XML (e.g., DSML for LDAP, XML-RPC and SOAP for RPC).

XML messages are usually larger than those expressed in a binary protocol, 
given.  But how many integration projects fail on the basis that the 
intergration protocol had less than 100% runtime performance?  Very few -- 
the key challenge is interoperability, not out and out pedal-to-the-metal 
every-byte-counts performance.

And to be pedantic -- at the network level it doesn't matter if you're 
transferring 8 bytes or 708, either way they're both getting shipped in a 
single 1500 byte ethernet packet.




"Joe Pluta" <joepluta@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> 
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09/12/2004 13:42
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RE: The OS/400-Java "impedence bump"






Yeah, there is a compelling reason.

First off, XML is no better than any other communications type.  In
fact, it requires a lot of negotiation and implied agreement just to get
it working.  You have to agree on the tags and content of those tags
just to get things started.  For a good discussion of some of XML's
shortcomings, you might want to read my recent article:

http://www.mcpressonline.com/mc?1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@.6b1994a0

Second, XML is very fat, especially if you use SOAP.  A typical SOAP
message has 700 bytes of overhead.  When I'm only sending an account
number, that's a lot of useless overhead clogging the network.  There's
a reason why modem manufacturers take the time to determine the fastest
speed available.

No, if we had a simple standard header that allowed two computers to
identify their fastest common communication mode, we'd be able to reduce
a lot of the clutter.

Joe


> From: Niall.Smart@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> 
> That sounds like a lot of development overhead and complexity, instead
of
> getting machines to negotiate on an agreeable data format, just get
> everything to talk XML.   Unless of course there is a compelling
reason
> not to!

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