Hey James,

>XML or any scripting language, is not efficient at developing complex applications. An OOP language makes it easier, faster, and usually more error free, and is therefore more efficient and the better choice.

XML would basically be the syntax. You can still write OOP code in XML, and if you think about it, XML might even be better suited for marking up complex class design with metadata than traditional C/Basic style syntax that was useful when writing procedural code.

>So, my answer to your question is: Yes, it could be done, but why bother except to maintain a thesis at all costs.

One would think that tools could be written so that the coder didn't realize they were generating VB.NET code or XML in their source files.

Also, I saw this today:

With that goal in mind, Microsoft highlighted some new tools for developers, most notably WinFX, which the company described as a new application programming model and an evolution of its .Net Framework, as well as "XAML" (pronounced "zamel"), a new language that Allchin said would allow developers to create Longhorn applications in a "declarative" way.
http://news.com.com/2100-7345_3-5097537.html?tag=nefd_top

(Even though I don't know what XAML and I'm just guessing its related to XML) it sounds like Microsoft is already working their way towards XML encoded application logic and interfaces.

The question still is: why bother? Like I said, given the flexibility of XML you should be able to include everything that current OO languages provide, plus more metadata and documentation which means we could easily allow applications to shift from design phases to coding phases seemlessly.

Currently we create UML diagrams and find someway to generate code from them. If we wrote the diagrams in XML, and gradually added enough information and business logic to the diagrams so that the documentation could become the app, I think that better applications could be built faster.

More uses for Metadata in application logic:

component versioning control
allowed client control
transparent security
autogeneration of user interfaces
platform portability
better detection of malcious code

>By the way, why would you store calculated results when they may simply be recalcuated when required?

To explain by example that the process of sending the results of busines logic to a video adapter or disk drive could be considered conceptually identical. :-)