3 Lessons from WAX
There is a new JNB article over on my employer's site. The topic this month is a new API for writing large XML documents: WAX. Here are 3 lessons I've learned from the article.
1. Research, Build, Contribute
Mark ran into a real world problem (an OutOfMemoryError when writing a large XML doc), then surveyed the landscape for a solution. Not satisified with the answers, he wrote his own solution and shared his findings with the world. Classic stuff.
2. Use Interfaces to Communicate Intent
The article mentions, as an aside, a clever idea by Brian Gilstrap: the use of interfaces to restrict the usage of the WAX API. For example, one may not call the attr
method after using the text
method. Brian's idea creates support for a DSL, of sorts, in a static language: it hits a sweetspot that provides compile time support and yet does not use a full-blown parser or dynamic-language DSL.
3. Have Fun
Well, check out the introduction video and see for yourself. I *heart* absurdity !
1 comment:
Now we know what Mark is going to wear trick-or-treating this year.
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