Comments Appreciated on Magazine Based on XML/XSL

[Paul Prescod]

Didier PH Martin wrote:
> 
> Hi Paul,
> 
> Jonathan is right. We have to go beyond the marketing discourse and play
> with the product to see that. When I downloaded the product and made some
> test. It became obvious that what is stored is objects (their own internal
> structure) stored in a PSE pro database (from the dll included).

I think we've lost too much context here and that is probably my fault. We
are probably also talking at cross purposes. 

Mark Birbeck said:

> The hierarchical database is just good old SQL Server at root, with a
> few layers on top, so there is no tight integration between a DOM and
> the database.

and

> On the other hand, if you're implying that we just treat the database as
> one big DOM and transform the nodes we want out, then I have to ask, has
> anyone done that? Are there actually any databases out there that hide
> behind a DOM interface and present themselves as one big tree of nodes?


My impression of Excelon is that it does not "hide behind a DOM interface"
in the sense that I cannot pump in arbitrary objects conforming to
arbitrary IDL or DDL schemas and expect them to present a "DOM interface"
to the world. Excelon implements a DOM interface to XML documents, not to
arbitrary data objects. That doesn't make it a bad product, but I don't
think it is the product Mark is describing. I imagine that the (imaginary)
product that Mark is describing would allow you to specify your objects in
IDL, manipulate them as ordinary object/method/property Java or C++
objects and get a DOM interface to them "for free" when you want it. I
don't think that that product exists.

-- 
 Paul Prescod  - ISOGEN Consulting Engineer speaking for only himself
 http://itrc.uwaterloo.ca/~papresco

By lumping computers and televisions together, as if they exerted a 
single malign influence, pessimists have tried to argue that the 
electronic revolution spells the end of the sort of literate culture 
that began with Gutenberg’s press. On several counts, that now seems 
the reverse of the truth.

http://www.economist.com/editorial/freeforall/19-12-98/index_xm0015.html

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