> > The XSLT convertors start with XML and convert to the other formats. In
> > practice, ElasticHosts will likely start with TXT, and convert from
> > there to the JSON, XML, etc - it would be great to see automatic
> > convertors in this opposite direction too, to validate that it can be
> > done. Writing these will also impose discipline
>
> This is a great point - cross format converters will make it easier to
> spot bugs.

Definitely.

And they'll impose discipline in data structures too, as I said. We firmly
believe that the entire core API can and should be written as simple
key-value pairs in the text format (see my last post where I improved Sam's
example by converting it to these).

In the simpler formats (TXT, JSON), it's easier to spot when the data
structures are running away, whereas in the XML it's easy to make a mistake
which adds another 4 levels of data structure nesting, sometimes even
without realising it!

Agreed, but bear in mind that a key motivator for choosing XML as the source format is that it's trivial to convert it into anything from plain text to json to ODF/PDF etc.

Sam