2007-08-28-elementtraversal-pig-lipstick.html

---
layout: post
title: "ElementTraversal == Pig Lipstick"
permalink: elementtraversal-pig-lipstick.html
categories: [xom, dom, xml, java, w3c, ElementTraversal]
---
<p>Elliotte's <a href="http://www.cafeconleche.org/oldnews/news2007August28.html">right</a> &#8212; the ElementTraversal <a href="http://www.w3.org/TR/2007/WD-ElementTraversal-20070727/">spec</a> is lipstick on a very ugly pig that's already wearing a good amount of makeup (<a href="http://www.w3.org/TR/DOM-Level-3-LS/load-save.html">serialization</a>) and a ridiculous hat (<a href="http://www.w3.org/TR/DOM-Level-3-Core/namespaces-algorithms.html">XML namespaces "support"</a>).  (I've already given the DOM a few deserved <a href="http://blog.prb.io/xml-dom-considered-harmful.html">kicks</a>.)</p>

<p>So what does it take to deprecate the DOM?  It takes a better API on equivalent licensing terms, as more liberal licenses will tend to trump better software and many of the customers of a better XML API are at the more liberal end of the licensing spectrum, i.e., Apache.  I'll second Dan's <a href="http://netzooid.com/blog/2007/08/27/re-doomed/">call</a> to get <a href="http://www.xom.nu/">XOM</a> &#8212; or something that sucks as little as XOM does &#8212; packaged as a DOM killer, and at least from my <a href="http://blog.prb.io/open-source-java-yawn.html">perspective</a>, that does not include a JSR or the JCP.</p>

<p>Do I smell bacon?  It is, after all, the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pig_(zodiac)">Year of the Pig</a>...</p>