It seems that Microsoft is working with Cambridge university on a extension to C#
called ”Xen”,
aimed at simplifying access to XML and RDBMS data by making advanced data access a
first-class member of the language itself, rather than using libraries, and going
way beyond simple extensions like typed
datasets and JAXB.
While I do like small, powerful languages like scheme,
I actually think that these ideas have their merits. I remember how differently I
would approach a problem in Perl, due to its first-class
inclusion of associative
arrays, regexps and
data binding (the tie()
system), and in this
article from ExtremeTech, I get the feeling that I would be able to tackle more
complex relational data in totally new ways.
I’d recommend reading the article first,
then the actualpapers. So far,
I’ve only skimmed the papers, but I think that if they get this right, it could
be pretty powerful. And innovative.
Also, as pun-inviting as the name Xen may be, I am thankful that they dropped the
original name: X#…
