Re: [comment] XMLHttpRequest Object - Address Extensibility

* Brad Fults wrote:
>That said, I see this not as a case in need of additional
>optimization, but a case requiring the removal of
>specification-mandated bloat that is by no means temporary.

The case you've presented makes a number of assumptions, including that

  * the extension actually comes from multiple vendors rather than
    some standards organization like OMA, ATSC, or SMPTE where e.g.
    CSS extensions such as "-wap-accesskey", "dde-nav-right", and
    "atsc-nav-index" have been defined and implemented by multiple
    vendors

  * vendors are not allowed or simply won't implement some other
    vendors' proprietary extensions. The proposed text does not
    prohibit that and e.g. ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLHTTP") has
    been implemented in more than just one browser, even though it
    follows a vendor-name naming convention.

  * at least three vendors implement their own version of the ex-
    tension before there is a standard for it. At least one of the
    four versions is obviously incompatible with the three others.

  * you actually want to use the feature and support all the many
    incarnations of the feature, and you can do it with such simple
    code as the one you've presented. And it is indeed very simple
    compared to creating the object in all the relevant user agents
    http://developer.apple.com/internet/webcontent/xmlhttpreq.html

Your code is not bloated at all, just compare it to what you need
to, say, add a rect to an SVG document, and it is considerably
more likely that authors want to do that than using the extension
you've assumed in your code. You would make a better point if you
could point out the features currently missing but likely to be im-
plemented in virtually all browsers in the forseeable future.
-- 
Björn Höhrmann · mailto:bjoern@hoehrmann.de · http://bjoern.hoehrmann.de
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Received on Sunday, 23 April 2006 19:41:46 UTC