Subject: Re: S-exp vs XML, HTML, LaTeX (was: Why lisp is growing) From: Erik Naggum <erik@naggum.no> Date: 18 Dec 2002 23:45:47 +0000 Newsgroups: comp.lang.lisp Message-ID: <3249243947379622@naggum.no> * Oleg <oleg_inconnu@myrealbox.com> | \documentclass[letterpaper]{article} | \bibliographystyle{unsrt} | | \begin{document} | \begin{S_exp_war} | Lispers like to flame XML. Now, what is wrong with XML that | is {\em not} "wrong" with \LaTeX and HTML? | \end{S_exp_war} | \end{document} If you tried to build a huge information infrastructure on top of LaTeX, it would probably be even worse than XML. SGML was a good idea as long as it was strictly confined to marking up a certain class of documents, whose processing applications were clearly restricted in their design. Making it a meta-language, not just an application-specific input language, was not the mistake. The mistake that has cost the world billions of dollars was to let it escape its confines. XML is everything that is bad about using SGML in the wrong places for the wrong purposes. It is, in short, the worst braindamage that has hit the computing world in a very long time. I still use SGML to produce documentation. I dislike HTML and the incredible abuse it has seen. I positively /detest/ XML and the disgusting mess it has introduced to the world. -- Erik Naggum, Oslo, Norway Act from reason, and failure makes you rethink and study harder. Act from faith, and failure makes you blame someone and push harder.