On 01/18/2010 09:53 AM, Alan McKinnon wrote:
Just as code is read many more times than it is written, so is a package
configured by the end user many more times than the config parser studied by
the developer.
Your post makes sense until you realise that the use of XML in a configuration
designed to be changed by the user renders the package virtually unusable.
Given a choice between me as a developer struggling with a config parser
versus vast swathes of users dumping the package because of the same parser,
I'd say it's me that has to work harder, not my users.
Back when git was still fairly fragile and Linus and the other git geeks were
discussing how to construct the git config files, quoth Linus: "The X in XML
stand for crap, and they couldn't even spell crap correctly."
That's a matter of record in the git mail-list repository -- I didn't make it
up, honest!
To see what they finally decided upon, just look at the .git/config file in
any git repository. Certainly more human-readable than XML, but whether it's
lexically equivalent/superior/inferior I certainly don't know. I do know that
Linus's opinions are usually quite clear :)
