Re: [Rails-devel] Another library to add?

[Stefan F. <ste...@we...>]

Erik:
first of all it could help to solve the problem you describe below.
Currently the xml encoding and the rails classes are far from being a
one:to:one relationship.
Even if there is good reason to have that, it would be easier to 
support, test and code if the xml gets first read into a java object 
that closely resembles that structure and then translate that into the 
object that is used later on inside Rails.

Example:
You would first create a CompanyDefinition object which is very close 
the XML and then this is converted into the true Rails Company object.
This would allow disconnect the creation of a Rails company from the xml 
code an thus make it easier to create a company by code directly for 
testing.

And your question what does including a new technology helps us solving 
is always a relevant one, there is nothing backwards with that approach.
Stefan

On 06/06/2012 10:47 PM, Erik Vos wrote:
> What problems would this solve?
>
> For initialization: it would be nice if XML data and objects were anywhere
> near have a to 1:1 relationship, but in many cases that is far from being
> the case.
> So I suppose this would cause much rework.
>
> For communication: I would tend to consider XML too verbose for such a
> purpose.  It's not for nothing that (I believe) Google has invented a more
> compact format.
> And for all I know XML parsing and creation is slooow, but perhaps that is
> due to the old libraries we now use?
> Indeed we need something, but I can't provide much insight.
> I had in mind something like uuencoded Serialized objects (the Java way),
> but I suppose that is way too primitive for these days.
> And of course it would be a big benefit if the transmission is readable.
>
> Anyway, don't be put off by my (as usual) somewhat sceptical attitude.  I'm
> way backwards in most of these matters.
>
> Erik
>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: brett lentz [mailto:bre...@gm...]
>> Sent: Wednesday, June 06, 2012 7:05 PM
>> To: Development list for Rails: an 18xx game
>> Subject: Re: [Rails-devel] Another library to add?
>>
>> On Wed, Jun 6, 2012 at 12:55 PM, Stefan Frey<ste...@we...>  wrote:
>>> Brett&  Erik,
>>> going forward I am considering refactoring the xml initialization of
>>> Rails. Further I did a short comparison of the feature and syntax of a
>>> few xml serialization libraries for java and very quickly found one
>>> that pleases me.
>>>
>>> The idea of the newer libraries add is that it is possible to align
>>> the java classes and xml elements, so that in effect you do not have
>>> to write anymore manually for parsing. Most of them use annotations to
>>> control this mechanism.
>>>
>>
>> +1 from me. Annotation/Decorators are a fantastic way to handle this.
>> Also, the removal of manual parsing code is a huge win, IMO.
>>
>>> So my proposal is to use Simple Serialization Library (see
>>> http://simple.sourceforge.net/home.php)
>>>
>>> Checkout
>>> http://simple.sourceforge.net/download/stream/doc/tutorial/tutorial.ph
>>> p
>>> for documentation and code examples).
>>>
>>> (Reasonable Alternatives were XStream and Jackson with XML extension
>>> and Protostuff, I do not like JAXB)
>>>
>>> I am still considering to choose a more compact format (like Json or
>>> even a binary one like Kryo or Smile) for the planned network play.
>>
>> Given the choice, I'd opt for JSON or YAML over binary formats.
>> They're well-known, well-supported, and (most importantly) easier to
>> debug.
>>
>> Over the wire, we can use compression to slim down the bandwidth
>> requirements of transmitting plain-text data.
>>
>>>
>>> Stefan
>>>
>>
>> ---Brett.
>>
>>
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