OT: X#, a new Msft functional language similar to Lisp; Python prominently mentioned
Ron Stephens
rdsteph at earthlink.net
Mon Jan 13 20:13:40 EST 2003
Ok, this is a brand new, wild rumor, but of some interest. Microsoft is
said to be creating a new functional language , X#, to be able to easily
extract and process data from XML documents.
The author of this new online article, one Sean McGraff, posits that
most programming paradigms are either a)object oriented, like Java,
Python, and C++ or b) use tabular data structures, such as relational
data bases. He further posits that XML does not fit neatly into either
object oriented nor tabular paradigms, but does fit neatly into a
functional programming style that treats data and code as one and the
same thing, like Lisp.
Interesting. I don't like Microsoft, but this actually sounds like an
idea that might have some merit. Of course, rather than use Lisp,
Microsoft has to re-invent the wheel in a proprietary fashion.
Does anyone think the ideas expressed in this article about XML being
easier to process in a functional programming style, are either accurate
or stupid?
Could Python's functional programming style be a good fit for XML data?
Could Python be extended to enhance such capabilities, if those
capabilities have any validity?
The article is at
http://searchwebservices.techtarget.com/originalContent/0,289142,sid26_gci873910,00.html
Ron Stephens
http://www.awaretek.com/plf.html
There is no predicting what the Pythonic web spider will dig up next ...
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