EuroPython call for proposals extended to May 12

http://www.europython.org/. I don't think I'll make it this year, sigh.

Tim Bray on programming

A couple of quotes

"maybe everything we thought we knew about strong typing is wrong."
"So maybe in 2020 we'll all be programming in either Python or C."
"...given that strong typing is a serious pain in the ass, maybe we're going all going to end up using dynamically-typed languages like Python."

Full piece here Language Fermentation.
The terminology here can get complex. Python for example which is the answer to most of the words problems:-) has strong typing. What differentiates it from Java etc. is that the typing is dynamic - not static. Static typing - and the whole concept of compiling programs manually are the most egregious blind alleys programming has gone down in recent times.
Sadly, those who really, really like static typing have also penetrated the XML world to terrible effect in recent times.
Dynamic typing is good for you. Its good for programming. Its good for data. It makes it possible to develop software without a crystal ball and without a 10x hit between "product" and services thanks to the extra levels of loose coupling it introduces into your designs.
If you haven't yet tried it - get Python, get XML and do something non-trivial with the combination.
Give it a couple of weeks to sink in. I promise you, you won't go back.

Relax(i)NG into XHTML 2.0

Latest Working Draft for XHTML 2.0 uses RelaxNG for its schema language. Whopeee!

Who owns your data

Who owns you data?.

Walter Perry is such a treasure

[Posting to do with XML security : http://lists.xml.org/archives/xml-dev/200305/msg00139.html

"Quite simply, obviating in the name of security the uniquely useful benefits which truly expert processing confers is the choice of a known stupidity over an as yet undiscovered enlightenment.

The network is not the computer

Patrick Logan hits a home run in my opinion.

"The network is not the computer. My computer is over here and yours is over there. All we need is a simple way to exchange documents.
The documents are the messages. The computers are the cells. (Fortresses in Roger Session's metaphor.)
The connections should be as simple as possible and get out of the way

Yes, yes, yes!

This is really, really getting on my nerves

The number of times *this* has come into my in-box is way beyond the number of superstrings in the entire universe:

<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

I presume it happens when you save HTML out of Word and then e-mail the HTML page - or something. Verrry irritating.