Vote: deprecate std.xml?

[H. S. Teoh]

On Fri, Jan 17, 2020 at 02:43:13PM -0700, Jonathan M Davis via Digitalmars-d wrote:
[...]
> Honestly, everything involved with DOCTYPE was a terrible idea,
[...]
> adding what is essentially a #include and macro system to a document
> format?
[...]
> Basically, it's the equivalent of #including files to access macros
> that are #defined in those files.
[...]
> and it potentially has to download documents from the internet (since
> arbitrary URLs can be provided)
[...]

Wow. Just when I thought my opinion of C preprocessor macros couldn't
get any lower, here we have an example of a system that's essentially
equal to a preprocessing system where you can:

- #include files from *arbitrary network addresses*, not just the local
  filesystem;
- expand arbitrary macros defined therein into the file being parsed and
  have it potentially *completely alter the parse tree*.

Words fail to describe my ...incredulity... at this ...incredible...
design.

It reminds me of this quote:

	"No, John.  I want formats that are actually useful, rather than
	over-featured megaliths that address all questions by piling on
	ridiculous internal links in forms which are hideously
	over-complex." -- Simon St. Laurent on xml-dev

I used to be skeptical of XML once. Now that skepticism has acquired a
significant dose of disgust as well.


T

-- 
What do you get if you drop a piano down a mineshaft? A flat minor.