Re: The evolution of an XML professional

I don't think so. XML is quite easy, if you avoid doing dumb things.

It is knowing what the dumb things are, the likely gotchas in several
different situatations, that may make you a good professional, not any
abstract or arcane *gnosis*.

After all, XML is just (applied to runs of text) the same kind of
abstraction that every other aspect of computing gets: DBMS, programming
languages, protocols: allowing things to be known and named, and their
concrete representation/functionality/sequence/dynamic-behaviour etc to be
subsumed or keyed by that name.  (XML's only wrinkle is that those concrete
concerns are frequently guessed at during the design stage, and not
known.)

For example, here is one dumb idea: "*Standards are good, therefore where a
standard exists you should adopt it.*"  But the professional knows Postel's
law *"be conservative in what you do, be liberal in what you accept from
others" *and will consider what profile of a standard is appropriate, and
whether, once you have a fair idea of what the profile is, whether in fact
there is any value in nominally adopting the *kitchen-sink* standard S (and
whether just being S-friendly or S-ish might be better and more direct.)
The professional also knows there is *more than one way to skin the cat.*

Here is another dumb idea:  "*If I adopt
framework/architecture/COTS-solution X, everything will be easier*".  But
the professional knows that chances are there will be both pluses and
minuses for any framework/architecture/COTS-solution: some things will be
easier but other things may be harder: and when it turns out some things
are harder, it is not the framework/architecture/COTS-solution that will
get the blame, it is the stubborn part that does not fit. The professional
knows that there may be *swings and roundabouts*, and *no silver bullet*,
and that there is a tendency to *throw the baby out with the bathwater*.

Indeed, perhaps what makes a good XML professional is that they have a
good-enough collection of generic software-engineering adages and saws that
they can apply to any situation, and that they understand them enough to
contest such sayings when raised inappropriately. Which means understanding
at least Postel's Law, Brook's Silver Bullet, Brook's Mythical Man Month,
Conway's Law, Meyer's Programming by Contract (and their evolutions, and
all the other good stuff afterwards) enough that they unconsciously get
raised as appropriate in practice.  (And they need to be able to see
through fake rules, such as  the Law of Demeter.)

Cheers
Rick

On Sun, Nov 20, 2022 at 7:14 AM Roger L Costello <[email protected]> wrote:

> When you first start out in XML you imitate/mimic book authors and other
> developers.
>
> Then you start to think about design and semantics to best utilize the
> data.
>
> Then a much smaller group of people think about XML in terms of systems.
>
> Then a very finite few people crack this special code which is there's a
> philosophy and it's the philosophy that creates the system.
>
> ---------------------------
> The above is my reformulation of "The Evolution of a Professional
> Investor" [See below].
>
> How would you describe the evolution of an XML professional?
>
> I think that in every field (investing, XML, whatever), the ultimate
> destination is the awareness/development of a philosophy of/for that field.
> Do you agree?
>
> /Roger
>
> The Evolution of a Professional Investor:
>
> When you first start out in investing you imitate/mimic other investors.
>
> Then you start to think about cash flows and how much profit you are going
> to make.
>
> Then a much smaller group of people think about investing in terms of
> macro geopolitics.
>
> Then a very finite few people crack this special code which is there's a
> philosophy and it's the philosophy that creates the system.
>
> -       Chamath Palihapitiya (https://youtu.be/kFQUDCgMjRc?t=7532)
>
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