this post was submitted on 24 Jan 2026
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Programming

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The lost art of XML — mmagueta (marcosmagueta.com)
submitted 1 day ago by Kissaki@programming.dev to c/programming@programming.dev
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There exists a peculiar amnesia in software engineering regarding XML. Mention it in most circles and you will receive knowing smiles, dismissive waves, the sort of patronizing acknowledgment reserved for technologies deemed passé. "Oh, XML," they say, as if the very syllables carry the weight of obsolescence. "We use JSON now. Much cleaner."

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[–] thingsiplay@lemmy.ml 16 points 1 day ago (1 children)

JSON is easier to parse, smaller and lighter on resources. And that is important in the web. And if you take into account all the features XML has, plus the entities it gets big, slow and complicated. Most data does not need to be self descriptive document when transferring through web. Fundementally these languages are two different kind of languages: XML is a general markup language to write documents, while JSON is a generalized data structure with support for various data types supported by programming languages.

[–] Kissaki@programming.dev 2 points 1 day ago

while JSON is a generalized data structure with support for various data types supported by programming languages

Honestly, I find it surprising that you say “support for various data types supported by programming languages”. Data types are particularly weak in JSON when you go beyond JavaScript. Only number for numbers, no integer types, no date, no time, etc.

Regarding use, I see, at least to some degree, JSON outside of use for network transfer. For example, used for configuration files.