There's no particular machine advantage to any human-readable format over an equivalent binary format, sure. However, if you look at human-"readable" formats th

There's no particular machine advantage to any human-readable format over an equivalent binary format, sure. However, if you look at human-"readable" formats that predate XML (like HL7[0]) you can appreciate the advantages of a tree-like structure with labelled fields when it comes to human comprehension. I think XML is often difficult for humans to read, and certainly to write, and since this is the only reason to use either language it's an important factor. I guess you could argue we should all use Protocol Buffers, pickle, Thrift, etc.[1] and only switch to JSON for debugging. I wouldn't disagree. Protobuf is apparently faster than JSON in the browser. [0] See https://www.interfaceware.com/hl7-message-structure https://www.interfaceware.com/hl7-message-structure for an example message [1] I missed Corba and spent the early years of my professional life trying not to touch the SOAP, just in case I dropped it