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> The only fundamental advantage that I would give XML over JSON is the fact that you can encode meta data in XML in a more idiomatic, standard way via attribut

> The only fundamental advantage that I would give XML over JSON is the fact that you can encode meta data in XML in a more idiomatic, standard way via attributes. But we all know that is not how XML is being used. If the ecosystem around XML wasn't abusing attributes to encode core/primary data, then there would be a stronger argument for the language IMO. Attributes are absolutely one of the reasons for XML's failure. They seem so innocuous, until you encounter a schema where the developer created: <Entity ID="12345" Type="Person"> <Property Name="FirstName" Value="Harry" Type="String" /> <Property Name="LastName" Value="Potter" Type="String" /> <Property Name="DateOfBirth" Value="1/1/1980" Type="DateTime" /> </Entity> And you just want to hunt those people down and slap them. Nevermind if you've ever encountered XML with mixed namespaces. Then again, reading the article the bit at the end is exactly the same sort of nastiness.

dgb23 5y ago
That's a very illustrative example. It completely and utterly destroys the benefit of having attributes and makes the structure less clear in context of the XML ecosystem. I imagine if there was discipline around attributes being only used for meta-data and maybe explicit (de-normalized) references (which is arguably meta data, happy to discuss), then XML would be semantically richer by default. However like this we are left guessing the semantics if we encounter some XML. Somewhat in contrast, HTML is generally, but not consistently, better at making this distinction, which enables clearer semantics around accessibility, HATEOAS and so on. Ironically we are kicking that value proposition into the can when driving web application rendering with JSON (like popular SPA frameworks do), so we have to re-invent meta data and communicate that with JSON-schema.

dgb23 5y ago

That's a very illustrative example. It completely and utterly destroys the benefit of having attributes and makes the structure less clear in context of the XML ecosystem. I imagine if there was discipline around attributes being only used for meta-data and maybe explicit (de-normalized) references (which is arguably meta data, happy to discuss), then XML would be semantically richer by default. However like this we are left guessing the semantics if we encounter some XML. Somewhat in contrast, HTML is generally, but not consistently, better at making this distinction, which enables clearer semantics around accessibility, HATEOAS and so on. Ironically we are kicking that value proposition into the can when driving web application rendering with JSON (like popular SPA frameworks do), so we have to re-invent meta data and communicate that with JSON-schema.