XML Essentials - W3C

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Schema XML Essentials Skip W3C??? Standards??? XML?Technology??? XML Essentials XML
Essentials On this page ? what?is?XML ? what?is?XML?used?for ? examples ? learn?
more ? current?status?of?specifications?and?groups What is XML? The Extensible
Markup Language (XML) is a simple text-based format for representing structured
information: documents, data, configuration, books, transactions, invoices, and
much more. It was derived from an older standard format called SGML (ISO 8879), in
order to be more suitable for Web use. What is XML Used For? XML is one of the most
widely-used formats for sharing structured information today: between programs,
between people, between computers and people, both locally and across networks. A
short example: Windscreen Wiper The Windscreen wiper automatically removes rain
from your windscreen, if it should happen to splash there. It has a rubber blade
which can be ordered separately if you need to replace it. If you are already
familiar with HTML, you can see that XML is very similar. However, the syntax rules
of XML are strict: XML tools will not process files that contain errors, but
instead will give you error messages so that you fix them. This means that almost
all XML documents can be processed reliably by computer software. The main
differences from HTML are: All elements must be closed or marked as empty. Empty
elements can be closed as normal, or you can use a special short-form, instead. In
HTML, you only need to quote an attribute value under certain circumstances (it
contains a space, or a character not allowed in a name), but the rules are hard to
remember. In XML, attribute values must always be quoted: In HTML there is a built-
in set of element names (along with their attributes). In XML, there are no built-
in names (although names starting with xml have special meanings). In HTML, there
is a list of some built-in character names like � for ? but XML does not have this.
In XML, there are only five built-in character entities: <, >, &, " and ' for <, >,
&, " and ' respectively. You can define your own entities in a Document Type
Definition, or you can use any Unicode character (see next item). In HTML, there
are also numeric character references, such as & for &. You can refer to any
Unicode character, but the number is decimal, whereas in the Unicode tables the
number is usually in hexadecimal. XML also allows hexadecimal references: & for
example. XML has a number of advantages over many other formats. For any particular
scenario, you might be able to come up with a better format, but then you would
have to include costs of converting and processing your format, and of training,
and of the XML-specific editing and searching tool that are now very widely
available. Some of the advantages of XML include: Redundancy XML markup is very
verbose. For example, every end tag must be supplied, such as in the example. This
lets the computer catch common errors such as incorrect nesting. Self-describing
The readability of XML (it is a text-based format) and the presence of element and
attribute names in XML means that people looking at an XML document can often get a
head start on understanding the format (and it also helps people to find mistakes!)
Network effect and the XML Promise Any XML document can be read and processed by
any XML tool whatsoever. Of course, some XML tools might want specific XML markup,
but the XML format itself can be read by any XML parser: you can't say, this XML
document is only to be processed by such-and-such a tool. This means that every new
XML document increases the value of every other XML document, and of every XML
tool, and every new XML tool increases the value of every XML document and hence of
every other tool. Today, XML is the most widely-used format of its kind anywhere in
the world. Examples XML is very widely used today. It is the basis of a great many
standards such as the Universal Business Language (UBL); of Universal Plug and Play
(UPnP) used for home electronics; word processing formats such as ODF and OOXML;
graphics formats such as SVG; it is used for communication with XMLRPC and Web
Services, it is supported directly by computer programming languages and databases,
from giant servers all the way down to mobile telephones. If you double-click an
icon on your computer desktop (the icon may well have been drawn with SVG), chances
are that an XML message is sent from one component of the desktop to another. If
you take your car to be repaired, the engine's computer sends XML to the mechanic's
diagnostic systems. It is the age of XML: it is everywhere. Learn More There are
too many XML tutorials to list here. In most cases, people using XML for a specific
purpose will have written a tutorial. The XML specification itself is approximately
30 pages long, and is aimed at computer programmers and information specialists.
Recent Press 13 June Laboratory Equipment ?Tech Lets You Track Your Data Online ?
26 March Digital Journal ?The Apache Software Foundation Celebrates Document
Freedom Day 2014? Current Status of Specifications Learn more about the current
status of specifications related to: XML XML Canonicalization Efficient XML
Interchange XML-binary Optimized Packaging Internationalization of XML XML
Relationship to other formats These W3C Groups are working on the related
specifications: Efficient XML Interchange Working Group Internationalization
Working Group Technical Architecture Group XML Core Working Group XML Processing
Model Working Group XML Security Working Group Contact: Liam R. E. Quin Current
Status XML XML Canonicalization Efficient XML Interchange XML-binary Optimized
Packaging Internationalization of XML XML Relationship to other formats Use It
Tutorials Business Case Software Logos XML Footer Navigation Navigation Home
Standards Participate Membership About W3C Contact W3C Contact Help and FAQ Sponsor
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XML Technology Publishing Processing Components Query Transformation Security

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