Java Tutorial - Java Scipt :
Overview
XML stands for the Extensible Markup Language and is a descriptive markup language that lets you organize information into a structured format. Primarily conceived to address issues with existing markup languages in handling structured documents on the Web, XML has filled that role grandly.
The recent focus on XML to achieve interoperability is evident from the new projects being worked by public companies. Business integration, an area traditionally served by EDI (electronic data interchange), is gradually making the transition to new XML-based standards. Why? Because EDI relies on a fixed format that is neither extensible nor standardized, both of which are attributes that XML documents possess. Practically every interoperability technology we’ve seen since XML’s introduction has relied on XML. Following are a few examples of how XML is changing industry standards even as you read this:
· RDF (Resource Description Framework) is a ubiquitous system for lightweight knowledge description and interchange that is based on XML.
· RSS (Rich Site Summary) as a site syndication format is a concrete use of RDF that has taken off. News syndication, blogging (Web logs), software version updates, and other forms of content syndication all depend on RSS.
· SOAP and XML over HTTP are widely used for remote procedure calls.
· Even HTML itself is being updated to be XML based with the new XHTML standard.
XML has proven to be useful in other contexts beyond just the Internet. A few examples follow:
· The most popular Java build system, Ant, has build files that are based on XML
.
· Jelly is an amazing XML-based scripting system.
· J2EE deployment descriptors are XML documents.
· Configuration files in general are shifting towards XML.
· Even traditionally binary formats, such as graphic file formats, can benefit
from the XML, as can be seen by the W3C’s SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics) standard.
As you can see, people continue to innovate with XML and use it to solve new problems; this provides compelling evidence that XML is wildly successful in meeting its original design goals. Having all this interoperability is a great boon to everyone’s productivity.
