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It's of course possible to simplify a chat protocol. For instance, I'm not sure why the XMPP designers decided to go with XML; it's much more verbose than most
by moonshinefe 11y ago
It's of course possible to simplify a chat protocol. For instance, I'm not sure why the XMPP designers decided to go with XML; it's much more verbose than most formats, and typically slower and more complicated to parse in my experience say versus JSON.
What advantage did it have? Unless someone is sniffing unencrypted XMPP packets and finds that XML readability handy, I don't really see the point. And that's an edge case. Not to mention XML's main advantage over many other formats is having hierarchical relationships--but how does that help in a chat protocol?
I'm sure someone could very well have counter points to the above, but those are the things off the top of my head that made me question why XML was the top choice here for an IM protocol.
- TD-Linux 11y agoXMPP development started in 1998 and so predates JSON. And while it's true that XML is more verbose than JSON, I don't think it's worth redesigning the protocol over.
- noblethrasher 11y agoXMPP predates the first general articulation of JSON by at least 3 years.
- detaro 11y ago> Not to mention XML's main advantage over many other formats is having hierarchical relationships--but how does that help in a chat protocol? Extendability. Transporting Messages in other messages. Transporting hierarchical data instead of only text.