Just One More Acronym: WDDX

by Nate Zelnick

It's The Stupidity, Stupid

Before I start in on this column's topic, I want to provide full disclosure. I have been closely involved in the development of the Web Distributed Data eXchange (WDDX) in the product marketing position I've held at Allaire Corp. since April. Allaire makes the Web application server ColdFusion and the HTML development tool HomeSite.

I mention this because I wanted to make it clear what my relationship has been to the company and the technology. In November I am returning to my previous position as technical editor for Internet World.

With that disclaimer out of the way, let me tell you a little about stupidity and why it is the key to understanding the Web.

How To Understand Trees

When we think about information in the abstract—which is always a good way to start thinking about XML—we tend to think about relationships between very complex things in very simple terms. The classic example of this, taken from linguistics, is the difference between the word "tree" and the set of experiences that constitute the experience of a tree. The first time you encounter a tree, you note a set of attributes that a tree has: It doesn't move a lot, it's made of wood, it has leaves and branches, etc. The next time you encounter a tree you look at it, realize it's a tree and move on.

The point of this is that while the actual experience of a tree is an incredibly complex mix of cognitive and sensual processes, the reduction of these into the word "tree" is a kind of shorthand that saves you the trouble of all of that complexity in the future. As an added bonus, language lets you pass that shorthand notation for all of that complexity to someone else as the word "tree". The word connotes the experience of "tree-ness" even though your idea of a tree might be an oak, while the person you're talking to might be thinking about a sycamore.

All of the associated work required to translate the word tree to an individual's set of memories, images and experiences of trees is encapsulated in the symbol. The Web—and good Web technologies like XML—work because they don't fight against this tendency to reduce the complex to a simple and portable set of tools and functions for communication. Language is an incredibly complex instrument, but our experience with it is very simple.

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