this post was submitted on 24 Jan 2026
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The lost art of XML — mmagueta (marcosmagueta.com)
submitted 20 hours 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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[–] Kissaki@programming.dev 4 points 4 hours ago* (last edited 4 hours ago) (1 children)

https://www.w3.org/TR/2004/REC-xml-infoset-20040204/

[children] An ordered list of child information items, in document order.

Does this not cover it?

Do you mean if you were to follow XML standard but not XML information set standard?

[–] Feyd@programming.dev 2 points 4 hours ago

Information set isn't a description of XML documents, but a description of what you have that you can write to XML, or what you'd get when you parse XML.

This is the key part from the document you linked

The information set of an XML document is defined to be the one obtained by parsing it according to the rules of the specification whose version corresponds to that of the document.

This is also a great example of the complexity of the XML specifications. Most people do not fully understand them, which is a negative aspect for a tool.

As an aside, you can have an enforced order in XML, but you have to also use XSD so you can specify xsd:sequence, which adds complexity and precludes ordered arrays in arbitrary documents.