[Rails-devel] Re: XML data files

[<ia...@co...>]

> 
> >I know from experience that as XML files become large, it can become very 
> >difficult to edit them or write them accurately - lots of simple mistakes 
> >creep in and unless a lot of effort is put into the parsing software, the 
> >error messages can bear no relation to the root cause.
> 
> Yep. I've experienced this pain too. That's what brought me to suggest=
>  breaking out each 
> major class into it's own XML settings file.
> 
The are arguments in favour of both approaches: one of the issues with XML is the general assumption that just because you CAN edit it with a text editor, you SHOULD use a text editor. That said, I'm happy to go along with multiple files.

> >Rulesets have to be human readable and modifiable, so XML is a good
> >choice. 
> >However, for saving the state of the game, I think that Java Serialization=
>  
> >would be a better choice. The volume of data involved is relatively small 
> >and the coding for straightforward serialization is simple, certainly 
> >several times less effort than mapping all objects in and out of XML.
> 
> Sounds good. I agree that the mapping a save file to XML will probably be a=
>  lot of work. So, 
> if there's a simpler way, I'd favor using it.

Binary saves are a very, very bad idea: do I really need to explain why? Creating and reading XML for the saves is not difficult. 

Iain.