[AccessD] XML

John,

It doesn't really seem plausible that XML is the main motivation for keeping
hard drive sales up. Movies and music files make up the majority of what's
stored in hard drives nowadays. :)

But yeah I do agree that XML is not an efficient data store. Yet it's the
format of choice when it comes to moving data over the web especially when
we're talking about web services.

Eric

-----Original Message-----
From: accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com
[mailto:accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] On Behalf Of jwcolby
Sent: Thursday, September 03, 2009 6:06 AM
To: Access Developers discussion and problem solving
Subject: Re: [AccessD] XML

I have to say I agree with Stuart on this one.  XML is about as inefficient
as you can get for storing data.

We as database designers strive to select the smallest possible datatype to
hold whatever data we are storing in the data store.  Now you export a long
integer to XML and it turns into hundreds of bytes.  And all so it can be
man readable?  When was the last time you actually read an XML document?
What percentage of all XML documents do you (or any human) ever actually
read (in XML format)?

It is almost as if the hard disk consortium got together in a secret room
deep in a mountain in Russia, surrounded by KGB security specially hired to
keep their meeting private... and designed a "storage system" to help them
stimulate sales.

"Hard drives have gotten so big that people are only buying one.  Let's
design this system called XML that will take anything and store it in layers
of wrappers that will expand the original size by 1000.  We will sell many
more disks now..."

"Now let's leak it's existence to MS and tell them that it has already
become the next storage standard..."

"Ahh... our plan worked, MS is now storing the world in XML."

Disk drive manufacturer stock prices skyrocket, approaching the share price
of Berkshire Hathaway..

High fives around...

John W. Colby
www.ColbyConsulting.com


Shamil Salakhetdinov wrote:
> Hi Stuart,
> 
> <<<
> Man-hammer-nail!!!
> No :)
> 
> <<<
> So now you need massive full blown database management systems to 
> manipulate XML data?
> Yes. 
> Or .NET would be enough sometimes.
> One Example: MS Office 2007 (2010) documents are all XML based - now 
> give me a "hammer" to effectively search for information in them?
> 
> --
> Shamil
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com
> [mailto:accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] On Behalf Of Stuart 
> McLachlan
> Sent: Thursday, September 03, 2009 3:22 PM
> To: Access Developers discussion and problem solving
> Subject: Re: [AccessD] XML (was: PDF vs Access)
> 
> <quote>
> The Toronto XML Server is a repository for XML data and metadata, 
> which supports real and virtual XML documents.
> Real documents are stored as files or mapped into relational or object 
> databases, depending on their structuredness; indices are defined 
> according to the storage method used.
> </quote>
> 
> <quote>
> Using the Sonic XML Server, organizations can simplify processing and 
> storage of XML documents </quote>
> 
> <quote>
> save a considerable amount of time as well as development and 
> operational cost that would otherwise be spent for adapting 
> traditional, yet XML-enabled solutions
> (RDBMS) to work
> effectively in an XML environment.
> </quote>
> 
> 
> So now you need massive full blown database management systems to 
> manipulate XML data?
> 
> Man-hammer-nail!!!
> 
--
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