Thursday, August 05, 2004
Bridge Technologies - In Praise of X
It's not the size of the gap conjoined; nor is it the depth of the chasm crossed; it's the value each side has for the other. To the traveller, the ultimate answer to the penultimate question is "yes." The question is, of course, "Was it worth the effort?"As a technophile, it's hard for me to imagine anything more fun than technology for technology's sake. For the end user, however, such thinking is no good. Software technology, as in other applied creative disciplines, requires that the software architect have a firm and loyal commitment to the age-old form vs. function debate. Bah. There is no debate. For software to be useful, it must be usable. For a technology to be adopted, it must be easy to understand and operate.
Indeed, the same is true for the technology available to software engineers. In order to provide the greatest possible use to the end user, the technologies on which software is built must themselves be easy to operate. They must be extensible. Not necessarily robust, but modifiable.
XML is such a technology. The "X" in "XML" stands for "Extensible". For software architects to fully appreciate the value of XML, we must look at it as a bridge technology. It's not about the size of the gap it helps us cross (footbridges, to be sure); nor is it about the depth of the chasm (a mere pond, in most cases); it's about the value of the archipelago now united in a network of previously isolated ecosystems. What can be wrong with encouraging pedestrian modes of travel?
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