This is a kind of "case study" post. It happens -- frequently -- that I wind up in a situation similar to this one. Usually it involves large, complex pieces of software and lots of people with strongly-held opinions. I'm usually brought in toward the end, and have to discover the parts …

First, I wrote a book on Programming with Python. It was back in the Python 2.0 days (2001 or thereabouts.) I used AppleWorks, and it was fun. Write all you want, put in formulae, code samples, everything. A few style sheets to give it a reasonable look and I …

We have a spectrum of interesting needs, and a corresponding spectrum of solutions. Here's one dimension: the structured-ness view.

1. Highly structured data.
2. Semi-structured data, or the "mixed content model". We can further subdivide this into content which is "naturally" hierarchical, and a good fit for XML, and data which is …

First, I'm a pack-rat; I worry about deleting something valuable. Specifically, I worry about orphaned files because the application software is no longer supported or the media is obsolete.

For example, my resume is a Hypercard stack. Really. Hypercard is an OS 9 application, and future OS X's won't support …

While there are lame reasons for using XML, there are good reasons also. The good reasons, however, aren't delightfully clear. They seem to be clouded by the lame issues. I'm trying to sort out the best and most logical reasons for using XML.

Here are 8 typically lame reasons for …

I read "Stamp on the ants ", which lead me to write "XML - One Ring to Rule them All... " because I'd seem some remarkably lame justification for XML. I saw an interesting response in "XML is first class, scripting languages are second class ".

At this point, we have an interesting tangential …

I harp on Design Goal 6 in the XML 1.0 Standard , "XML documents should be human-legible and reasonably clear". In Kontrawize, the response is XML editors help meet this design goal. "There are plenty of good XML-aware editors around, some of which are free." While true, I think this …

The XML folks seem to have a number of points:

• Ant already works. Complexity be damned.
• XML is fine for everything that's not Java. Except SQL. And CSS.
• Ant is "already" part of the technology stack, and it uses XML. Anything better isn't already there.
• Everyone already knows XML. They …

In the CW article, pseudonymous Mathias Thurman describes a demonstration of Microsoft's Rights Management Services product. The audience of executives identify a number of "Suppose..." scenarios, which the author dismisses as merely research subjects, concluding that "...the goal of this proof of concept was to introduce a group of executives …