Delphi, Development

XML as code

Via Alistair’s cakeBlog, I found this to be a good read.

Now, I am a huge fan of XML, and have gone through [my] three phases of XML usage:

1. 1999-2000: XML everywhere. Used it for everything, list boxes, drop-down menus, you name it – all populated from SQL Server tables. It was way cool. But, half way through the project’s duration (not feature set), realisation set in, hey, it take a lot of time to work with XML if it’s everywhere. Why don’t we just use it where it’ll provide some benefits?

2. 2000-2002: Refactoring from XML everywhere to XML here and there. Anywhere data had to cross boundaries, XML has its place – combined with web services, XML was starting to take shape.

3. 2002-today: Use it wisely…for syndication/content aggregation and connected systems. Extending the crossing of boundaries to between disparate systems.

I’m still in the third phase, although I have an idea about how XML will play a part in the next [fourth] phase, I can’t reveal it here just yet. It’s just not firmed up enough to write much about it.

Naturally, whenever I hear folks ranting on about XML and how bloated it is, I’m right in there kicking off a debate! However, Allen’s Just Say No to XML article is one that I will happily agree with. XML provides us with a super means of connecting systems together. However, by virtue of the XML DOM, it provides us with a parser and a syntax checker. Couple and XML document with an XML Schema, and suddenly we can control the order of the XML elements in the XML document and control data types…we’ve kind of got ourselves a language parser. And it seems that folks have latched on to this concept and are using XML documents to convey more than data and meaning, but to carry out specific programming instructions, i.e. XML, as a mark-up language, is being used as a programming language. Except it won’t be any programming language that you or I are familiar with. It’s likely to be a hybrid of the original author’s favourite “instructions”. There will be no language constructs, such as partial classes, heck there won’t even be classes as we know them. And, in the absence of XSLT, it’s likely to be procedural in nature.

If you’re thinking of using an XML document to add some form of programmatic instructions to your application, please, don’t. Learn how to use some of the many [free] language parsers that are out there, integrate them into your application and you’ll have a much more maintainable and robust application. And it’ll probably save you a lot of time – you won’t be writing what amounts to an interpreter were you to use XML elements as instructions.

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Community, Developer Events

WCF Master Class – IDesign and newtelligence AG…

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IDesign and newtelligence AG present WCF Master Class with Juval Löwy

Where:
Mallorca, Spain

When:
October 30- November 3, 2006

The WCF Master Class is a 5 days training, and is the world’s best, most intense WCF training. There is simply no substitute for being trained by the world’s leading experts in the subject, and Juval Löwy offers a profound insight on the technology and its applications. The material presented goes well beyond anything that can be found using conventional sources.

This could be your chance for total immersion: TechEd 2006 starts right after Juval’s course – it could be the ultimate two-week vacation!

More information can be found here.

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Community, Developer Events

Channel 9 – Londoners interviewed, none guilty

Barry Dorans, Ian Smith and David Oliver on Channel 9

In this video, Sabot and wife give Charles a brief tour of London including a ride on the world’s largest ferris wheel (at least it sure seems like it…) also known as the London Eye. Then, we meet up with Blowdart and Irascian for some beers and good conversation about, among other things, Channel 9 – The Good, Bad and Ugly.

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Community, Developer Events

XP Day 6 – 27/28 November 2006

Registration for XP Day 6 is now open.

XP Day brings together world-class experts for two days of nothing but agile presentations.

If you want to learn more about agile development, testing and Scrum, delivered by the likes of Clarke Ching, Joshua Kerievsky (author of Refactoring To Patterns), and Joseph Pelrine (to name only a few), this is the two-day conference for you.

When:
Monday 27, Tuesday 28 November

Where:
Ironmongers’ Hall, Shaftesbury Place, Barbican, London EC2Y 8AA

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Rants

Longstanding grudge: Don Coyote Country Pursuits…

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Today saw me have a huge clear out of “piles of junk”. My recycle bins are full, I have space to move, I have spare storage boxes.

In this clear out, I came across a photocopy of an advert for Don Coyote Country Pursuits – they were contracted to provide a horse and carriage at our wedding some seven years ago. Except, they didn’t. They happily cashed my mother-in-law’s cheque for £100 (deposit) and then denied all knowledge of the booking. We ended up making other arrangements, kind of at the last minute. This seems reasons enough to boycott an organisation.

Anyway, I don’t take lying cheating sods likely. We wrote to them. We went to see them. All to no avail. We even wrote to the Sunday Post’s Raw Deal and saw our complaint printed:

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However, even that didn’t work. So we pretty much left it at that…

…until now. Since I’ve “re-discovered” their advert and the Raw Deal piece, it’s time these folks were ousted.

Do not use Don Coyote Country Pursuits under any circumstances, they suck. If you see an advert like this one, avoid them, turn the page, go somewhere else.

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This post will remain on this site until £100 + seven years of interest at 10% (compounded) is paid and a full written apology is received.

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Community

Gig: Queen, a tribute band

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Thursday 28th (yes a school night), five of us went to see One Night of Queen, aka Gary Mullens & The Works. Venue: The Edinburgh Playhouse. It seemed appropriate, September 2006 would have seen the Freddie Mercury’s 60th birthday.

The show opened with Tie Your Mother Down (A Day At The Races), which would normally serve to demonstrate the power of the sound system. In this case, it provided an fairly acceptable warm up track. The sound system was a little under-powered, certainly for the first five songs. However, it did prove that this tribute band do actually sound very much like the masters who they are imitating. That said, after a gentle kick from Gary, the audience woke up and stood up…it certainly seemed louder at that point.

Throughout the set, we were subjected to a modicum of Freddie-isms: these boys have studied their subjects well and manage to inject a lot of the real Queen into the performance.

Under Pressure (Hot Space)
Now I’m Here (Sheer Heart Attack)
Keep Yourself Alive (Queen “1”)
One Vision (A Kind Of Magic)
Jailhouse Rock
Crazy Little Thing Called Love (The Game)
Another One Bites The Dust (The Game)
It’s a Kind of Magic (A Kind Of Magic)
Friends Will Be Friends (A Kind Of Magic)
Love Of My Life (A Night at The Opera)
Hammer to Fall (The Works)
Bohemian Rhapsody (A Night at The Opera)
Seven Seas Of Rhye (Queen “1”)
Radio Gaga (The Works)
We Will Rock You (News Of The World)
We Are The Champions (News Of The World)

Given the average age of a regular Queen fan, there was an intermission, a comfort break if you will. This was our cue to get to the bar and throw some [more] lager down our necks.

And no Queen gig would be complete without God Save The Queen. Most folks were standing for this, which was good – very few folks were singing however, which wasn’t so good.

I would certainly recommend that you go see these boys, especially if you enjoyed the original works from Queen themselves. They’re on the touring circuit, so it’s very likely that they’ll be in your neck of the woods.

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Anyway, it would appear that my last gig prior to this one was Magnum, some three years ago. It’s time to start going to a few more gigs. Perhaps starting here, in Germany?

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Craig Murphy: author, blogger, community evangelist, developer, speaker, runner