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To: python-list@python.org
From: Mark Lawrence <breamoreboy@yahoo.co.uk>
Subject: Re: Python declarative
Date: Sun, 26 Jan 2014 02:45:59 +0000
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On 26/01/2014 02:33, Steven D'Aprano wrote:
> Here's a simple programming expression, familiar to most people, common
> to hundreds of programming languages:
>
> 3+4*5
>
> Here it is written as XML:
>
> <add><int>3</int><mult><int>4</int><int>5</int></mult></add>
>
> Source:
> http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/xml/library/x-sbxml/index.html
>
> More here:
>
> http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/2008/05/xml-the-angle-bracket-tax.html
> http://myarch.com/why-xml-is-bad-for-humans/
>
> If you expect a human being to routinely *read*, let alone *write*, XML
> in preference to some real programming language, that is a horrible,
> horrible thing. Using XML as an internal, machine-generated, format not
> intended for humans is not too bad. Anything else is abusive.
>

If I worked as a consultant I'd much prefer the XML version as I'd be 
able to charge much more on the grounds that I'd done much more, hoping 
that the people paying didn't bother with design reviews or the like :)

-- 
My fellow Pythonistas, ask not what our language can do for you, ask 
what you can do for our language.

Mark Lawrence