5 ms·
XML? this should be in json!
by tianhe 13y ago
XML? this should be in json!
- toyg 13y agoConsidering typical timescales for this sort of projects, i'd say we should be happy it's not in CSV or SGML.
- liscovich 13y agoAs the schema guide explains, in 1999 they picked XML based on the study from 1996: "Following a 1999 feasibility study on XML/SGML, the Committee on House Administration adopted XML as a data standard for the exchange of legislative documents" http://uscodebeta.house.gov/download/resources/USLM-User-Guide.pdf http://uscodebeta.house.gov/download/resources/USLM-User-Gui... It took the US Govt 17 years to release 200,000 pages of the US code in XML.
- adregan 13y agoI wonder if 17 years is fast for the government or slow.
- BWStearns 13y agoFast..... sadly
- liscovich 13y agoWe might have to wait even longer for all the common law based on the court rulings to be published in the same format. Not to mention the "secret common law" based on the FISA court rulings.
- pseingatl 13y agoNot sure what format the files are kept in, but it's been done. Several private companies have these behind a paywall:ThompsonWest and Lexis/Nexis are the most well known, but there are others. Don't forget the published caselaw of the fifty states as well as state legislation. The U.S. Code is far from the whole picture.
- bjr- 13y agoSounds about right.
- tianhe 13y agoI think the most time consuming part of the conversion is from text to digital. That's what took so long. Interchanging formats should be relatively easy. Back in 1999, json wasn't even around. IMO in today's API centric, and javascript ruled world. json would be a lot more useful.
- chc 13y agoGiven that it can be mechanically converted to JSON, I have a hard time seeing how JSON would be a lot more useful. "Very slightly more convenient" seems like the most we could reasonably say.
- pseingatl 13y agoI wonder why. The U.S. Code was in electronic format by the 1980's. The Air Force had FLITE, Justice had Juris, and then there's Lexis and Nexis.
- Guvante 13y agoGiven the level of detail in the XML, I shudder to think what monstrosity that would create. Heck they didn't even bother to include a way to inherit styles, they are just included in every case.
- DannyBee 13y agoThis is surely an artifact of the conversion process. They are not storing the documents internally like this :)
- redblacktree 13y agoTime to write a json wrapper. I nominate you!
- sigzero 13y agoWhy? JSON should just be for data transfers. XML is for document formats. While the lines get seriously blurred that is there general use.
- pnathan 13y agoAgreed, for long running data sets you really want schemas.
- jimktrains2 13y agoThere are Json schema implementations out there.
- specialp 13y agoThere are but XML schemas are well understood, standardized and have been around for a long time. Even if they did this project today, XML is the right choice due to its maturity and suitability for documents.
- arrakeen 13y agoi'd prefer markdown /sarcasm
- jlas 13y agoI hope you're joking. XML is a superior format for semantically marking up content from a very detail-oriented dataset like this.