RE: [Rfid] XML vs. Text vs. Binary
Rob.Buck@intermec.com Thu, 21 July 2005 22:44 UTC
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Subject: RE: [Rfid] XML vs. Text vs. Binary
Date: Thu, 21 Jul 2005 17:44:15 -0500
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FYI: I view SLRRP/binary or SLRRP/text(non-XML) as a viable protocol that can be adapted to a serial device. However, I wouldn't try to put SLRRP/XML on a serial device. I realize that SLRRP is intended to be a network protocol. However, in my evaluation of SLRRP I'm factoring in legacy serial devices I want to support. A serial adaptation of SLRRP will be required if I adopt SLRRP. Rob -----Original Message----- From: rfid-bounces@lists.ietf.org [mailto:rfid-bounces@lists.ietf.org] On Behalf Of Frederico, Gustavo Sent: Thursday, July 21, 2005 7:55 AM To: rfid@ietf.org Subject: RE: [Rfid] XML vs. Text vs. Binary XML is already the de facto standard for interaction between disparate systems. That is clear to people that work in software and systems integration. Perhaps it's not so obvious to folks that work mostly with hardware. I would be concerned to used a protocol that is not XML-based and defines software interface. The size of XML does not have to be so much of a concern. It will probably be x % of what it would be if it were not XML-based anyway. The human-readability of XML is not a problem either, with a plethora of XML tools that facilitate editing and generation. There are lots of packages for parsing in Java, Perl and .NET compact framework. There's NanoXML, for instance, a light-weight Java xml parser that requires 6K. There is work on W3C on a binary representation of XML ( http://www.w3.org/XML/Binary/ ), but it doesn't seem to be finalized, and maybe it isn't necessary in this case either. XML brings many benefits that are well-documented. What the group may also consider is the use of RDF or OWL-Lite, for strong semantics and scalability, that I think would fit configuration management very well. Regards, Gustavo Frederico Allstream -----Original Message----- From: rfid-bounces@lists.ietf.org [mailto:rfid-bounces@lists.ietf.org] On Behalf Of Margaret Wasserman Sent: Wednesday, July 20, 2005 10:19 PM To: rfid@ietf.org Subject: [Rfid] XML vs. Text vs. Binary We've had some discussion on this list about XML encoding vs. binary encoding... I'm not sure that we are in agreement on all of the related points, but the concerns with XML seem to be code size on the reader and protocol overhead on the wire. These concerns can be minimized by the use of a restricted XML subset, such as canonical XML (see RFC 3076). However, there still seem to be some concerns along those lines. The only advantages that I remember being discussed for a binary encoding were the complement to the concerns with XML: smaller code size on the reader and less protocol overhead. I think, though, that our discussions have missed a major benefit of any text-based encoding (whether a protocol-specific text encoding or canonical XML): the ability to access the device using text processing tools (such as Perl scripts) and/or for a human to interact with the device directly. In 2002, the IAB held a Network Management workshop that is documented in RFC 3535. I would suggest that folks on this list read this report which can be found at: http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc3535.txt?number=3535 One of the interesting findings of that workshop was that one of the significant barriers to the use of SNMP as a configuration or control protocol is that it uses a binary encoding, which means that SNMP-specific client software (an SNMP browser or manager) is needed to interact with the device via SNMP. This prevents SNMP access using text processing tools or via human interaction. I would not like to see the industry create the same problem with an RFID control protocol. If there is real evidence that canonical XML would require too much code size on the reader and/or would result in an unacceptable level of protocol overhead, perhaps we could consider a protocol-specific text-based encoding (similar to FTP, SMTP and HTTP)? I don't believe that parsing a well-defined text-based encoding would require much more code than processing a binary encoding. And, in some cases a text based encoding would actually result in less data on the wire -- for instance a 32 bit integer with the value of 3 would be encoded in one byte of text ("3"), while it would require 4 bytes in binary encoding ("0x00000003'). Personally I like canonical XML, because I think it strikes a good balance between being human readable and machine-parsable. I also like the fact that the syntax is already well-defined. However, I think that well-defined, protocol-specific textual encodings could also achieve that balance, perhaps with less impact in the areas of concern (code size and protocol overhead). What do others think? Should we at least consider a text-based encoding? Margaret _______________________________________________ Rfid mailing list Rfid@lists.ietf.org https://www1.ietf.org/mailman/listinfo/rfid _______________________________________________ Rfid mailing list Rfid@lists.ietf.org https://www1.ietf.org/mailman/listinfo/rfid "This message is intended only for the named recipient. If you are not the intended recipient you are notified that disclosing, copying, distributing or taking any action in reliance on the contents of this information is strictly prohibited." _______________________________________________ Rfid mailing list Rfid@lists.ietf.org https://www1.ietf.org/mailman/listinfo/rfid
- [Rfid] XML vs. Text vs. Binary Margaret Wasserman
- RE: [Rfid] XML vs. Text vs. Binary Frederico, Gustavo
- RE: [Rfid] XML vs. Text vs. Binary Rob.Buck
- RE: [Rfid] XML vs. Text vs. Binary David Husak
- RE: [Rfid] XML vs. Text vs. Binary Margaret Wasserman
- Re: [Rfid] XML vs. Text vs. Binary Marshall Rose
- [Rfid] Re: XML vs. Text vs. Binary Stephane Bortzmeyer
- RE: [Rfid] Re: XML vs. Text vs. Binary Scott Barvick
- Re: [Rfid] Re: XML vs. Text vs. Binary Juergen Schoenwaelder
- [Rfid] Re: XML vs. Text vs. Binary Stephane Bortzmeyer
- [Rfid] Re: XML vs. Text vs. Binary Scott Barvick
- Re: [Rfid] Re: XML vs. Text vs. Binary Scott Barvick
- RE: [Rfid] Re: XML vs. Text vs. Binary Howard Kapustein
- Contradictions (Was: [Rfid] Re: XML vs. Text vs. … Margaret Wasserman
- RE: [Rfid] XML vs. Text vs. Binary Howard Kapustein
- RE: [Rfid] Re: XML vs. Text vs. Binary Howard Kapustein
- Re: [Rfid] XML vs. Text vs. Binary Margaret Wasserman
- RE: [Rfid] XML vs. Text vs. Binary Howard Kapustein
- Re: [Rfid] XML vs. Text vs. Binary Marshall Rose
- Re: [Rfid] XML vs. Text vs. Binary Margaret Wasserman
- RE: [Rfid] XML vs. Text vs. Binary Rob.Buck
- RE: [Rfid] XML vs. Text vs. Binary Bud Biswas
- Re: [Rfid] XML vs. Text vs. Binary Arjun Roychowdhury
- RE: [Rfid] XML vs. Text vs. Binary Scott Barvick
- RE: [Rfid] XML vs. Text vs. Binary Howard Kapustein
- RE: [Rfid] XML vs. Text vs. Binary Scott Barvick
- RE: [Rfid] XML vs. Text vs. Binary Howard Kapustein
- RE: [Rfid] XML vs. Text vs. Binary Rob.Buck
- RE: [Rfid] XML vs. Text vs. Binary Suresh Bhaskaran