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Tim Bray On The Origin Of XML

Posted by Zonk on from the makes-feed-users-happy dept.

gManZboy writes "Queue just posted an interview with XML co-inventor Tim Bray (currently at Sun Microsystems). Interestingly enough the interviewer is none other than database pioneer Jim Gray (currently at Microsoft). Among other things, in their discussion Tim reveals where the idea for XML actually came from: Tim's work on the OED at Waterloo."

17 of 218 comments (clear)

  1. OH come on.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    We all know Microsoft invented XML, how else could have filed a patent for it:)

    1. Re:OH come on.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      I thought it was Al Gore who invented XML.

    2. Re:OH come on.. by ikkonoishi · · Score: 3, Funny

      I resent that.

      I never had a day of training in my life!

      OHH a banana!

  2. here's my question.. can you decrypt this? by peculiarmethod · · Score: 3, Funny

    < td padding="5px" > I'm < td >

    --
    ** "It's not my job to stand between the people talking to me, and the ones listening to me." -- Pego the Jerk
    1. Re:here's my question.. can you decrypt this? by holy_robot · · Score: 3, Funny

      Your cell is open.

      --
      Just cause you feel it doesn't mean it's there.
    2. Re:here's my question.. can you decrypt this? by Segway+Ninja · · Score: 5, Funny

      You should be in a padded cell, but someone forgot to close it.

    3. Re:here's my question.. can you decrypt this? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      More correctly that, in a, say, riddle.html, should read (notice the closing ):

      <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
      <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.1//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml11/DTD/xhtml11.dtd">
      < html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
      <head>
      <title>Riddle</title>
      <link rel="stylesheet" href="/design/default.css" type="text/css" title="Default Stylesheet" />
      </head>
      <body>
      <table>
      <tr>
      <td class="example">I'm</td>
      </tr>
      </table>
      <p class="W3C">
      <a class="debug external" href="http://validator.w3.org/check?uri=referer">< img class="debug" src="http://www.w3.org/Icons/valid-xhtml11" alt="Valid XHTML 1.1!" /></a>
      <a class="debug external" href="http://jigsaw.w3.org/css-validator/check/ref erer"><img class="debug" src="http://jigsaw.w3.org/css-validator/images/vcs s" alt="Valid CSS!" /></a>
      </p>
      </body>
      </html>

      With a corresponding /design/default.css like:
      td.example { padding: 5px; }
      p.W3C { display: none; }

      Additionally you should take care that your .htaccess includes (to correct the application/xhtml+xml to text/html for IE & Co...):
      RewriteEngine on
      RewriteBase /
      RewriteCond %{HTTP_ACCEPT} application/xhtml\+xml
      RewriteCond %{HTTP_ACCEPT} !application/xhtml\+xml\s*;\s*q=0
      RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} \.html$
      RewriteCond %{THE_REQUEST} HTTP/1\.1
      RewriteRule .* - [T=application/xhtml+xml]

      Of course there's a serious lack of meta-data here, The padding should be given in cm (or any other absolute measure) or em and it's not fulfilling W3C Accessability Guidelines... :-P

      And now I need to overcome the Lameness filter, oh dear... I assume it's the whitespace which I used for indentation. *shrugs* It doesn't help so far, sometimes I wonder how I'm supposed to write real comments including code examples here. Slashdot sure ssems stupid sometimes.

  3. Lisp strikes again by Dancin_Santa · · Score: 5, Funny

    How's that old saying go?

    Those that do not understand Lisp are doomed to reinvent it, badly.

    Why can't someone reinvent C so that it sucks less?

  4. pioneer ... currently at Microsoft by i.collect.spam · · Score: 3, Funny

    "database pioneer ... (currently at Microsoft)" translated for slashdot readers: "sellout"

  5. happy gilmore quote by wolfgang_spangler · · Score: 3, Funny

    Gray interviews Bray, should have done it in May. Over by the bay.

    Is the my karma burning? Oh what the hay.

  6. The Origin of XML by TimeTraveler1884 · · Score: 5, Funny

    That's hogwash. Everyone knows that the idea for XML came from the tablets of stone that Moses brought down from Mount Sinai. In these tablets were the beginnings of self-describing data. That alone was where the commandments of W3C was originally sent out to the world.

    But only in the last decade have scholars used transformation style sheets and super-computers to find more declarative complex types, hidden in the original Hebrew CDATA. It is thought there are tens if not hundreds of specifications in these texts that may never have a finalized draft.

    Progress has been slow, while the discovery of SOAP in the 1800's has made the hygiene of data possible, there much that has yet to be standardized. Considering the aging DTD schemas left from the era of King James, it will be crucial to the data-exchange of humanity to uncover more secrets of XML.

  7. MOD FUNNY MOD-NAZIS by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    I wonder how I'm supposed to write real comments including code examples here. Slashdot sure ssems stupid sometimes.

    Now this is what I call understatement.

  8. Jim Gray interviews Tim Bray by Saeed+al-Sahaf · · Score: 4, Funny
    Jim Gray interviews Tim Bray Right, sure.

    Have you ever seen these guys in the same room at the same time? No? I thought as much.

    --
    "Who are in control, they are not in control of anything - they don't even control themselves!" - Glen Beck
  9. Re:Can't Microsoft do *anything* original? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    "...And we'll call it the Bay Area Research Facility. And then we can... er... just a moment..."

  10. Re:Oh boy... by Faust · · Score: 5, Funny

    hi!

  11. Originally: Bay Area Research Facility by quarkscat · · Score: 2, Funny

    also known as: BARF. The name was changed, no
    doubt, in order to instill a greater sense among
    MSFT employees there that they actually might
    (someday) have a workable product. Hence, BARC.

    XML is more complicated than it should be, but
    it is NOT a MSFT "invention", and has no business
    being patented by MSFT. Let alone, encumbered
    with their viral and restrictive and expensive
    licensing scheme. What it IS is yet another
    example of the slimey "embrace/extend/extinguish"
    monopolistic business practices of MSFT. If the
    DoJ weren't more like a 90 year old grandmother
    that misplaced her full dentures (aka the Dubya
    regime), they would have MSFT back into court to
    exact "new & improved" punishment on the 800 lb.
    gorilla.

  12. The essence of XML... by CondeZer0 · · Score: 2, Funny

    "The essence of XML is this: the problem it solves is not hard, and it does not solve the problem well." -- Phil Wadler

    --
    "When in doubt, use brute force." Ken Thompson