What are good alternative data formats to XML? [closed]

Answer 1

If you're asking in the perspective of a DSL, Guile Scheme could help, as already suggested with the S-expressions.

Personally I also use JSON for AJAX transactions.

Answer 2

HDF5 is a very compact data format with some characteristics that are similar to xml. The .net libraries leave a lot to be desired, but the format scales very well both in terms of size and performance.

Answer 3

If someone looking up less verbose alternative to XML, which is more or less isomorphic to XML, then there is AXON. In order to explain consider examples of equivalent representations in both XML and AXON. There is also python library pyaxon that support AXON format.

XML

<person>
   <name>Alex</name>
   <age>34</age>
   <email>mail@example.com</email>
</person>

AXON

person {
  name {"Alex"}
  age {34}
  email {"mail@example.com"}}

XML

<memo date="2008-02-14">
<from>
<name>The Whole World</name><email>us@world.org</email>
</from>
<to>
<name>Dawg</name><email>dawg158@aol.com</email>
</to>
<message>
Dear sir, you won the internet. http://is.gd/fh0
</message>
</memo>

AXON

memo {
  date:2008-02-14
  from {
    name{"The Whole World"} email{"us@world.org"}}
  to {
    name{"Dawg"} email{"dawg158@aol.com"}}
  message {"Dear sir, you won the internet. http://is.gd/fh0"}
}

XML

<club>
  <players>
    <player id="kramnik"
       name="Vladimir Kramnik"
       rating="2700"
       status="GM" />
    <player id="fritz"
       name="Deep Fritz"
       rating="2700"
       status="Computer" />
    <player id="mertz"
      name="David Mertz"
      rating="1400"
      status="Amateur" />
  </players>
  <matches>
    <match>
      <Date>2002-10-04</Date>
      <White refid="fritz" />
      <Black refid="kramnik" />
      <Result>Draw</Result>
    </match>
    <match>
      <Date>2002-10-06</Date>
      <White refid="kramnik" />
      <Black refid="fritz" />
      <Result>White</Result>
    </match>
  </matches>
</club>

AXON

club {
  players {
    player {
      id:"kramnik"
      name:"Vladimir Kramnik"
      rating:2700
      status:"GM"}
    player {
      id:"fritz"
      name:"Deep Fritz"
      rating:2700
      status:"Computer"}
    player {
      id:"mertz"
      name:"David Mertz"
      rating:1400 
      status:"Amateur"}}
  matches {
    match {
     Date{2002-10-04}
     White{refid:"fritz"}
     Black{refid:"kramnik"}
     Result{"Draw"}}
    match {
      Date{2002-10-06}
      White{refid:"kramnik"}
      Black{refid:"fritz"}
      Result{"White"}}}}

Answer 4

Heresy! XML is king of data. Say no to the usurpers, off with their heads! Long live XML!

But seriously if just need data use Json, for support and elegance, but if you need formating ,xpath like queries, additional metadata, etc... Stick with XML

Note: I use Xml for configs system building code generation and similar tasks, but Json for Rpc,Sql for queries and persistency, and finally Yaml here and there for logging and quick tasks, in other words choose the appriopiate format for the need.

Answer 5

XML is often used for configuration, and in this case there are some other simple storage formats that are often used (less document oriented):

1. .property files
2. INI files

There's various ways for reading and writing both, depending on platform and language.

Answer 6

There seems to be a lot of multi-platform support for JSON.