MLUC 2011 XQuery Enigma

1. XQuery’s Enigmatic Information Architecture Role MarkLogic User Conference 2011 Peter O’Kelly peter@okellyassociates.com

2. Agenda Background Why XQuery is awesome The XQuery enigma: why it’s not yet mainstream Projections and recommendations Q&A 4/28/2011 © 2011 O’Kelly Associates 2

3. Background Where I’m coming from Industry analyst/consultant working in information management and collaboration domains for ~30 years Background Application developer and data architect Product management and strategy roles at Lotus, IBM, Groove Networks, Macromedia, and Microsoft Industry analyst/consultant with the Patricia Seybold Group and Burton Group pbokelly.blogspot.com 4/28/2011 © 2011 O’Kelly Associates 3

4. Background My high-level XQuery perspective XQuery truly is awesome… A very well-designed language and standards initiative, optimized for un- or semi-structured information But XQuery appears to be somewhat stalled, in terms of overall market momentum It’s important to understand and address the reasons for the stall Because a vibrant XQuery standard, along with related techniques and tools, are important for the evolution of information management 4/28/2011 © 2011 O’Kelly Associates 4

6. Why XQuery is Awesome A purpose-built XML content manipulation language Gracefully applying the joy of sets to XML content Offering a sustainably complementary fit with SQL Designed by experts including SQL co-author Don Chamberlin Evolving to go far beyond queries With search, conditional expressions, function libraries, and more Can replace a kitchen sink of earlier technologies Fewer moving parts means more simplicity and less maintenance A W3C Recommendation, building on XML Schema, XPath, and other standards 4/28/2011 © 2011 O’Kelly Associates 6

14. Other Evidence of Non-Mainstreaming Vendor uncertainty or other hesitation E.g., at Gilbane Boston 2010, few of the exhibitors I spoke with had even heard of XQuery Not a statistically significant survey, but still surprising Few of the current market-leading collaboration/ content platforms are based on XQuery Tangent: this suggests there is a compelling market opportunity for new collaboration/content entrants that are XQuery-based 4/28/2011 © 2011 O’Kelly Associates 14

15. Exploring the XQuery Enigma Some issues that have probably limited XQuery market momentum Lack of a big-picture framework Installed base inertia Standards and politics The Internet ethos Limited techniques and tools [Don’t panic! We’ll return to the future-optimistic themes in a few minutes...] 4/28/2011 © 2011 O’Kelly Associates 15

16. A Big-picture Framework A digital information item dichotomy Resources Digital artifacts optimized for human comprehension Organized in terms of narrative, hierarchy, and sequence Examples: books, magazines, documents (e.g., PDF, Word), Web pages, XBRL documents… Relations Application-independent descriptions of real-world things and relationships Examples: business domain databases, e.g., customer, sales, HR… 4/28/2011 © 2011 O’Kelly Associates 16

17. The Resource/Relation Continuum 4/28/2011 © 2011 O’Kelly Associates 17 PDF docs XBRL docs Word docs DITA docs Desktop db Streaming db Operational db

18. A Big-picture Framework Complementary levels of modeling abstraction Conceptual Technology-neutral Used to establish contextual consensus Also very useful, when done well, for creating logical models Logical Captures conceptual models in a technology rendering Examples: (beyond-the-basics) hypertext and relational Information workers and app developers ideally work at this level of abstraction Physical Includes implementation-level details Ideally, activity at this level is limited to system architects and administrators 4/28/2011 © 2011 O’Kelly Associates 18

21. The Lack of a Big-picture Framework Without a framework, there’s likely to be Uncertainty about what to use when Conflict based more on miscommunication and/or misunderstanding than real issues Insufficient focus on Application/data independence Conceptual/logical/physical model independence Low probability of appreciation for the sustainable and complementary fit between XQuery and SQL 4/28/2011 © 2011 O’Kelly Associates 21

22. Installed Base Inertia Incumbent vendors DBMS vendors Application vendors Large organizations usually have distinct “content” and “data” management groups, often with little collaboration between them Content-focused people are often more instance-oriented and care a lot about schema flexibility Database-focused people are generally more type-oriented and care a lot about schema precision 4/28/2011 © 2011 O’Kelly Associates 22

25. Installed Base Inertia Programmer preferences can be pernicious Object-oriented frameworks have a lot in common with resources (e.g., hierarchy, sequence, and positional navigation) The object/relational “impedance mismatch” is still irksome, in some tools/frameworks But that does not mean it’s reasonable to default to resource-oriented approaches for all domains, even if the application is XML-centric, because not all XML content is resource-centric Doing so can dumb-down DBMS usage patterns, with significant consequences 4/28/2011 © 2011 O’Kelly Associates 25

26. Standards and Politics “The nice thing about standards is that you have so many to choose from” Andrew Tanenbaum As in the development of SQL, there are complex challenges at the intersection of standards groups, vendor agendas, and academic priorities The Open XML/ODF debate is another recent, relevant, and revealing case study 4/28/2011 © 2011 O’Kelly Associates 26

27. Standards and Politics NoSQL “A rhetorically clever and manipulative name … Saying ‘NoSQL’ says what you’re against, not what you’re for” (Joe Maguire) As with the largely failed “object database” wave 20+ years ago, NoSQL extremists appear to underestimate the expressive power and utility of what they propose to displace While there is ample room for database-related innovation, polarizing the debate is unhelpful 4/28/2011 © 2011 O’Kelly Associates 27

28. The Internet Ethos Lots to like Open, community-driven, vendor-independent… But also some risks; e.g., the Internet Doesn’t complain if your system is inefficient or ineffective Is culturally conducive to cyber-polarization E.g., there are probably still lively Internet forum debates about the relative merits of DTD, Schematron, RNG, and XML Schema And xBASE versus SQL, and RPG versus COBOL… This creates a key challenge: it’s difficult to get vitality readings on standards and technology alternatives Including major initiatives such as XQuery and XHTML 2.0 4/28/2011 © 2011 O’Kelly Associates 28

29. Limited Techniques and Tools Some SQL reality checks Relatively few people work directly with SQL The vast majority of information workers and developers who benefit from using SQL do so indirectly, through tools ranging from IDEs to query/reporting applications The development of ODBC was pivotal for software vendors and application developers working with RDBMSs Making it possible for them to use a single interface model for multiple products 4/28/2011 © 2011 O’Kelly Associates 29

30. Limited Techniques and Tools XQuery's market uptake has been constrained by the small number of XQuery-based tools and applications Which is in turn limited in part by the lack of a successful ODBC equivalent for XQuery Which, in turn, is partly a function of Microsoft’s apparent XQuery ambivalence Many XML-focused developers believe they get most of what they need from XPath Without tools to promote effective use of XQuery, it’s a difficult value proposition to make 4/28/2011 © 2011 O’Kelly Associates 30

31. Limited Techniques and Tools Modeling techniques and tools are also pivotal There are some good options today for physical database modeling But few choices for logical modeling And almost a complete lack of conceptual modeling tools For XML information modeling, there are even fewer modeling technique/tool options today It’s also a cultural and incentive system challenge If developers are paid to primarily focus on physical models, that’s what most of them will do 4/28/2011 © 2011 O’Kelly Associates 31

32. Limited Techniques and Tools Many XML-focused developers appear to believe they don’t need to invest time and attention in modeling In part because XML-focused application development often starts with existing XML schemas and/or documents rather than “green field” modeling But modeling is equally applicable to resource and relation domains, for Establishing contextual consensus Helping to promote Application/information independence Conceptual/logical/physical model independence Fostering the effective application of set theory and maximizing the use of declarative expressions 4/28/2011 © 2011 O’Kelly Associates 32

34. Projections and Recommendations XQuery is going to be a mainstream success RDBMSs aren’t going away anytime soon The standards scene is evolving in subtly significant ways More and better modeling MarkLogic is very well positioned 4/28/2011 © 2011 O’Kelly Associates 34

35. XQuery Will be a Mainstream Success And already is a success, for many progressive IT organizations and software vendors The next wave of XQuery momentum will likely come more from content management than traditional database management Providing significant opportunities to have fewer information architecture moving parts E.g., to spend less on specialized enterprise content management, records management, and Web content management servers and tools 4/28/2011 © 2011 O’Kelly Associates 35

36. XQuery Will be a Mainstream Success Recommendations Learn and fully leverage XQuery Go beyond the basics to master the full XQuery language “Querying XML,” by Jim Melton and Stephen Buxton, is a useful resource in this context Seek to simplify and consolidate, e.g., To do less scripting/programming and more declarative development using XQuery To migrate content and apps from legacy ECM systems 4/28/2011 © 2011 O’Kelly Associates 36

37. RDBMSs Aren’t Going Away Resources and relations are complementary And XQuery and SQL offer very strong synergy Systems such as Google’s Megastore are important leading indicators, as hybrid models “NoSQL” will rapidly evolve Initially implied “Just say ‘no’ to SQL” Later quietly redefined as “Not Only SQL” What may be next: “New Opportunities for SQL” I.e., some developers may reconsider the value of SQL and RDBMSs, after hitting NoSQL limitations 4/28/2011 © 2011 O’Kelly Associates 37

38. RDBMSs Aren’t Going Away Recommendations Develop expertise in both (beyond-the-basics) hypertext and relational models And explore the information flows between them Provide clear customer requirements and feedback to your RDBMS, application, and tool vendors Encourage them to fully exploit resource/relation synergy Establish clear developer criteria on what to use when, e.g., for NoSQL alternatives Consider applying the framework presented earlier 4/28/2011 © 2011 O’Kelly Associates 38

39. Subtly Significant Standards Evolution The industry is a very different place compared to when SQL was standardized in the mid-1980s The Internet ethos is pervasive, and key vendors have learned to productively play the standards game together There have been some major standards changes recently, e.g., the discontinuation of XHTML 2.0 But there is also clear market momentum consolidation around standards including XML Schema, XPath 2.0, XSLT, and HTML5 And, although not always obviously, XQuery 4/28/2011 © 2011 O’Kelly Associates 39

40. Subtly Significant Standards Evolution Recommendations Place well-informed standards bets, regularly check assumptions, and be willing to make course corrections Get involved Make your standards-related requirements clear to your strategic vendors Actively participate in standards activities 4/28/2011 © 2011 O’Kelly Associates 40

41. More and Better Modeling Conceptual, logical, and physical modeling are critical success factors for both resources and relations Organizations that under-invest in modeling are essentially reverting to the obsolete programs-have-files approach, limiting Application/data (and content) independence Conceptual/logical/physical model independence 4/28/2011 © 2011 O’Kelly Associates 41

42. More and Better Modeling Recommendations Develop modeling expertise Explore resources such as “Mastering Data Modeling” (Carlis/Maguire) Apply the big-picture framework for consensus on (resources + relations) * (conceptual/logical/physical) Build and consistently use model repositories Also ensure modeling and reuse are supported by developer incentive systems Provide clear modeling-related requirements to your tool and server vendors 4/28/2011 © 2011 O’Kelly Associates 42

43. MarkLogic is Very Well Positioned MarkLogic Placed an early bet on XQuery, and continued to focus on XQuery while many other vendors balked Has insights from XML information management market leadership in key domains including media, government, and finance Is led by a deeply experienced and strong team Recommendations Share your experiences this week and consider proposing a customer case study for MLUC 2012 4/28/2011 © 2011 O’Kelly Associates 43

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