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> Little languages provide a powerful way to quickly implement robust tools.
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> Reading the book made me keenly aware of one thing: The XML data format is complex! Compare the densely written 36-page XML specification (plus the 16-page namespace specification) to this three-sentence specification of a data format:
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> The data format consists of lines. Each line contains fields. Fields are separated by a delimiter (space, tab, comma, etc.).
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In my opinion that's a lousy specitication, and lousy specifications like that account for an immense about of trouble in our industry.
What's missing?
* It doesn't say what a line is. How are lines separated or terminated?
* What on earth does "etc." mean?
* It says how fields are separated, but it doesn't say what can appear within them. What happens when the value of a field contains a separator?
* It says nothing about character encoding.
* Does every line have to contain the same number of fields?
* Can fields be empty?
The only reason the specification is short is that it's woefully incomplete.
Michael Kay
Saxonica
