[Pythonmac-SIG] XML...while we are off topic.

[Bob Savage]

Chris, by definition, an XML element is tagged. It sounds to me like you
want to use something other than XML by default for your data files, but to
allow the use of an XML derived format for import/export. An XML based file
is excellent for parsability, but it is not the most efficient method for
storage of data. XML is an excellent way to transfer information from a
system you control to a system you do not control. I have often wished that
I could get at something like an XML-based representation of the data on a
webpage or the results of some academic software (my wife is a Geo-chemist
and the output of the programs she uses sometimes look like they were
designed to make them as useless as possible outside the original context
the developer had in mind).

The config files are perhaps a different matter, they would probably be a
lot more readable in an XML-based language. So I would encourage you to do
it that way. Remember that the XML editing tools are barely there at the
moment. Someone editing your config file in something like the XML editor
available here: <URL: http://www.elfdata.com/xmleditor/>, will be able to
easily understand what they are editing as it has a nice collapsible outline
view, and property - value metaphor (instead of just looking at all the
tags, which can be a bit overwhelming).

Incidentally there was an article about a month ago on O'Reilly's website
about using XML to encode databases that might be useful for you as you
think about representing tables. <URL:
http://www.xml.com/pub/a/2001/05/09/dtdtodbs.html>.

Best of luck,

Bob

-----Original Message-----
From: pythonmac-sig-admin@python.org
[mailto:pythonmac-sig-admin@python.org]On Behalf Of Chris Barker
Sent: Monday, June 18, 2001 10:59 AM
Cc: pythonmac-sig@python.org
Subject: [Pythonmac-SIG] XML...while we are off topic.

I have a question about XML. I'm considering using it for a bunch of
config and data files for an app I'm working on, but I have one
question:

Is there an efficient way in XML to store data that fits very well in
tabel format? i.e. a bunch of record, each of which has the same fields?
(note that a tab delimited text file works great for this!) It seems
that tagging each field in each record is going to consume a HUGE amount
of file space. I havn't looked deeply into XML yet, but all the examples
I've seen tag each element. I there some kind of support for tables?

-Chris