SQL in the base system

[Ivan Voras]

Mike Meyer wrote:

> Yes, they are present no matter what representation you use. The
> question is - how do the answers change if you change the
> format. These days, cross-platform means you deal with length as well
> as endian issues. Or maybe you don't, depending on the db.  I know the
> answers for text files (easy, easy, very, yes). Can you propose a db
> scheme that gets has the same answers?

I think I don't understand the question. If the database contains number 
"42" in a field typed "int32", in a row, and handles endianess well, why 
would I get a different number on different platforms?

(A side note about sqlite: it's actually weakly typed - you store and 
receive strings).

> I hate to tell you this, but your XML solution would still consist of
> a bunch of one-of file formats for each and every purpose. Using XML
> just fixes the syntax for the file, not the semantics. Settling on XML
> (or JSON, or INI, or cap files, or ...) is sort of like settling on
> UTF, only less obviously a win. Sure, you get to use canned code that
> will turn you text file into a structure in memory. But you still have
> to figure out what it all means.
> 
> As you say, the XML toolset is the real win. Smart editors,
> validators, schemas (which make the editors and validators even more
> powerful) are all good things. Most people don't really seem
> interested in this beyond editors. That's not really much of a win.

I agree that validation in XML is a strong point - but one of the reason 
people like text files is that they DON'T usually have validation 
features :)

      |        pro                     |           contra
----------------------------------------------------------------------
  XML |   standard tools, validation,  | evil manual parsing, bad rep
      |   can embed multiple data      |
      |   structures in a standard way |
----------------------------------------------------------------------
text |   standard tools, sometimes    | no validation, manual parsing,
      |   human readable               | usually one data structure per
      |                                | file


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