There exists a peculiar amnesia in software engineering regarding XML. Mention it in most circles and you will receive knowing smiles, dismissive waves, the sort of patronizing acknowledgment reserved for technologies deemed passé. “Oh, XML,” they say, as if the very syllables carry the weight of obsolescence. “We use JSON now. Much cleaner.”

  • atzanteol@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    3·
    4 hours ago

    This is your confusion, not an issue with XML.

    Attributes tend to be “metadata”. You ever write HTML? It’s not confusing.

    • Feyd@programming.dev
      6·
      3 hours ago

      In HTML, which things are attributes and which things are tags are part of the spec. With XML that is being used for something arbitrary, someone is making the choice every time. They might have a different opinion than you do, or even the same opinion, but make different judgments on occasion. In JSON, there are fewer choices, so fewer chances for people to be surprised by other people’s choices.

      • atzanteol@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
        1·
        53 minutes ago

        I mean, yeah. But people don’t just do things randomly. Most people put data in the body and metadata in attributes just like html.