XML an Introduction

An Introduction to XML

    XML stands for EXtensible Markup Language. XML.  In its basic functioning and aim it is quite similar to HTML (which is also a mark up language). But saying that both of these serve the same purpose would be wrong. XML and HTML are both mark up languages and that’s where the similarity ends. XML focuses on describing data and setting out a proper structure for data in a document. HTML on the other end. It  focuses on the display of data on a page

What is XML?

XML is a mark up language. A mark up language is a mechanism to identify structures within a document. The XML specification defines a standard way to add mark up to documents. In XML tags are not pre defined. The user has to define his own tags and this provides him with the much-needed flexibility that is absent in HTML.

XML was created so that richly structured documents could be used over the web. The only viable alternatives, HTML and SGML, are not practical for this purpose.

HTML has its limitations in describing an arbitrary structure document as it comes with a fixed set of tags. On the other hand SGML (standard generalized mark up language), provides arbitrary structure but it is far too complex to be implemented on a simple web browser. Full SGML systems solve large, complex problems that justify their expense. Viewing structured documents sent over the web rarely carries such justification.

XML is therefore going to be the future of web development and has quickly emerged as the standard that has been adopted by numerous software vendors.