On 11/26/13 7:47 PM, Uche Ogbuji wrote:
> On Thu, Nov 21, 2013 at 1:28 AM, Michael Kay <
> <mailto:>> wrote:
> One thing that Jackson misses, though, is that there can be multiple
> hierarchic views of the data: this doesn't apply to the indexed
> sequential files he was originally working with, nor (directly) to
> XML, but it does apply when you extend Jackson to other fields.
>
>
> THIS! Just this! In the day job I spend a lot of time explaining to
> people that too many mainstream systems try to organize information with
> one hierarchy to rule them all, or even worse, they degenerate the one
> hierarchy into a tabular form. In my experience, most real world bodies
> of information have multiple possible hierarchical views, and an
> enormous number of IT problems boil down to juggling the political
> pressures of prioritizing one view of the data over another within an
> organization, and with respect to different populations served by the
> organization.
Agreed - THIS!
When organizations get past the initial XML culture shock issues (they
don't always), this seems to be the largest long-term challenge. In
many ways, it's what drives the quest for brittleness I've seen and
heard about too many times.
It also seems to be what drives some folks to RDF, where hierarchies
receive less worship.
Thanks,
--
Simon St.Laurent
http://simonstl.com/
