Why XML Over the Relational Model?

[Dan Holle]

IMHO, Occam's Razor between XML and DBMS revolves around data complexity and
multiple updaters.

If the XML phonebook had every US phone number, you wouldn't want to be on
the receiving end of a servlet like this.  If the query spans multiple XML
files, or does complex operations to bring together related XML elements,
you probably wouldn't want to write your own optimizer and join engine for
the servlet.  Likewise, if you have multiple people maintaining the phone
book, you probably want a DBMS approach... unless you're keen to re-invent
all the concurrency and access rights capabilities in a DBMS.

Even if you have a DBMS on the server side, XML might be the best way of
passing results and/or updates between the client and the server.

-----Original Message-----
From: len bullard <cbullard at hiwaay.net>
To: xlxp-dev at fsc.fujitsu.com <xlxp-dev at fsc.fujitsu.com>
Cc: xml-dev at ic.ac.uk <xml-dev at ic.ac.uk>
Date: 02 January 1999 22:31
Subject: Why XML Over the Relational Model?


>Nazmul Idris wrote:
>>
>> Dear fellow Java and XML Developers:
>>
>> I could not find a decent resource on the web which showed me
>> how to use XML and Java to build web and Internet based
>> applications. So I decided to write one myself :).
>>
>> Check it out at:
>>     http://developerlife.com
>>     http://developerlife.com/xmljavatutorial1
>
>Sincere compliments and thanks to you, Nazmul Idris.  That is a very
>fine tutorial and an excellent contribution.
>
>To XML developers:
>
>The tutorial by example does raise the question often asked
>and seldom answered by the XML community:  precisely
>why should developers choose this approach (XML
>and Java objects) over a commercial relational
>database given the ease by which this example can be done
>using standard SQL, script, and an
>HTML browser?  As this same question occupied
>many of the venerable CALS developers for some period,
>have any new answers emerged for XML?
>
>The only one I can think of is that we didn't have
>the DOM.
>
>Len Bullard
>Intergraph Public Safety
>
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