IdeaWell

Project ideas from Hacker News discussions.

XML is a cheap DSL

Original Article

Hacker News Discussion

📝 Discussion Summary (Click to expand)

Theme 1– XML isn’t “cheap” in practice

"It's not so cheap, in terms of maintenance and mental load" – wild_pointer

Theme 2 – Schema validation is seen as essential

"Given that that is had strong schema XSD verification built in, where you can tell in an instant whether or not the document is correct; it’s the right tool for a majority of jobs." – exabrial

Theme 3 – XML is used as a lightweight DSL for declarative specs

"cheap means 'easy to set up' not 'computationally efficient'" – alexpetros

Theme 4 – The hidden costs of XML tooling and maintenance

"The impression I've got from the last 20 years is that a chunk of the XML community gave up on XSD and went to RELAX-NG instead, but only got halfway there." – phlakaton

🚀 Project Ideas

FactGraph CompilerCLI

Summary

  • A lightweight command-line tool that translates a simple declarative tax‑calculation DSL into executable fact graphs with built‑in validation.
  • Removes the mental overhead of writing and debugging verbose XML schemas while keeping schema‑level safety.

Details

Key Value
Target Audience Tax‑engine developers, compliance engineers, fintech startups
Core Feature Declarative DSL → validated fact graph compiler with auto‑generated validation contracts
Tech Stack Rust (core), Node.js wrapper, WASM for browser integration
Difficulty Medium
Monetization Revenue-ready: Subscription (tiered per compute minutes)

Notes

  • HN commenters repeatedly lament the “mental load” of XML maintenance – this tool eliminates that.
  • Provides instant feedback on schema violations, satisfying users who crave “instant correctness checks”.

SchemaGuard Cloud API

Summary

  • A hosted validation service that accepts XML, JSON, or custom DSL payloads and returns detailed validation reports against user‑provided XSD/JSON‑Schema.
  • Turns the “expensive schema validation” complaint into a simple API call, making strong validation accessible to all.

Details

Key Value
Target Audience API platform builders, SaaS companies, data‑exchange integrators
Core Feature Real‑time validation, error highlighting, suggested fixes, and versioned schema storage
Tech Stack Go microservices, PostgreSQL, gRPC, OpenAPI docs
Difficulty Low
Monetization Revenue-ready: Pay‑as‑you‑go (per 1k requests) with a free tier

Notes

  • Directly quotes exabrial’s desire for “instant know‑whether‑the document is correct” – this service delivers it instantly.
  • Addresses hnfgon’s point that “validation can’t replace content validation” by offering custom rule hooks.

Declarative DSL Studio

Summary

  • A browser‑based visual editor for crafting and testing declarative configuration specifications (e.g., fact graphs, tax rules) using a minimal DSL.
  • Enables ops‑engineers to design, debug, and share configurations without writing code, reducing fragile scripts.

Details

Key Value
Target Audience Site‑reliability engineers, internal tool developers, low‑code enthusiasts
Core Feature Live preview, auto‑completion, schema validation, export to XML/JSON/CSV
Tech Stack React, TypeScript, Monaco Editor, WebAssembly for fast parsing
Difficulty Low
Monetization Revenue-ready: Tiered monthly plans (Free, Pro, Enterprise)

Notes

  • HN users often mention the difficulty of hand‑crafting XML trees – the visual editor removes that pain.
  • Developers love tools that prevent “hideous” script maintenance, promising high adoption and community discussion.

StreamXML Rust Parser Library

Summary

  • A high‑performance, streaming XML parser written in Rust with built‑in schema validation and graceful error recovery.
  • Provides zero‑copy parsing for large documents, solving the “XML is expensive” frustration.

Details

Key Value
Target Audience Systems programmers, data‑intensive application developers, security‑focused teams
Core Feature Incremental parsing, memory‑efficient, optional XSD validation, cross‑platform bindings
Tech Stack Rust, bindgen, libtommath (optional), CI with extensive test suite
Difficulty High
Monetization Hobby

Notes

  • Directly addresses necovek’s concern about “XML is notoriously expensive to properly parse”.
  • Offers an alternative to heavyweight parsers, appealing to developers who want cheap yet standards‑compliant parsing.

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