Re:XML Seems Cool (Score 2, Insightful)

XML is a way of decorating data with meaning but it's not the most efficient or effective way of doing it. From a software point of view it's expensive to parse - incredibly so when heavily nested/structured and just in terms of size it can be huge in terms of the raw data that it's actually transmitting. The main problem I have with the way XML is often used is the fact that's it's the worst of both worlds. It documents the data that it encapsulates badly from a human point of view (it's difficult to read and repetitive) and verbosely from a machine point of view (ditto). Why not use something more apt from a machine point of view (lisp s expressions?) and something more apt from a human point of view (a document?).