XOM API for Processing XML with Java

[Olivier Lefevre <lefevrol AT yahoo.com>]

I'll respect Elliotte's design philosophy [*] (I should perhaps have
refreshed my memory of them before reopening this can of worms) but
I must say I do not get the whole migration issue. The argument
put forward is self-contradictory: on the one hand it posits that
you should always wait x years before adopting a new version of
something, like the JDK, but at the same time it also posits that the
same people would want to adopt the very latest XOM release as soon
as it is out. It is only in that scenario that a problem arises.

What I would have expected is that people or places still using
Java 1.4 would keep using the last XOM version that does not require
1.5, that is to say, the XOM version that is contemporary with
Java 1.4; later, when they move on to a newer JDK release they can
move on in lockstep to newer releases of their third-party libraries: 
what would be the harm in such a policy?

Lastly, to those who could not stop themselves from using disparaging
language about "bleeding edge developers" and persons "without a
brain" I'll just say this: please mind your manners. There is no
excuse for ad hominen attacks. If "responsible" developers are this
nasty, then give me cowboys any day.

-- O.L.


[*] On the whole I find it positive that he has one at all and can
articulate it, even if I don't agree with everything in it: indeed
it gives me a favorably bias towards his software.