XML Separates Data from Presentation
Take a close look at the page layout of this article----it contains several types of headings and formatting
elements. The information on this page wouldn't change if you changed its format, though. If you remove
the headings, italic characters, and other formatting, you'll be left with the essence of this article---the
information that it contains, or simply put, its content.
XML allows you to store content with regard to how it will be presented----whether in print, on a computer
screen, on a cellular phone's tiny display screen, or even read aloud by speech software. When you want to
present an XML document, you'll often use another XML vocabulary (set of XML tags) to describe the
presentation. Also, you'll use other software to perform the transformation from XML into the format you
want to present the content in.
XML is Widely an Accepted Public Standard
XML was developed by an organization called the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), whose role is to
promote interoperability between computer systems and applications by developing standards and techn
ologies for the internet. The W3C members include people from technology product vendors, content
providers, corporate uses, research labs, and governments. Their goal is to ensure that its recommenda
tions (commonly referred to as standards) are vendor-neutral (not specific to a particular company or
organization) and receive consideration from a broad range of users and developers.
The W3C's standards cannot be changed or dropped altogether without input from its members and from
the general public (if they choose to participate in the process). This process is in contrast to proprietary
standards that some vendors implement. For example, Microsoft could decide to stop developing a
standard it has created, and subsequently stop incorporating it into its products. This is not likely to happ
en to standards that the W3C develps.
Is XML a Programming Language?
A programming language is a vocabulary and syntax for instructing a computer to perform specific tasks.
XML doesn't qualify as a programming language because it doesn't instruct a computer to do anything, as
such. It's usually stored in a simple text file and is processed by special software that's capable of interpre
ting XML. For example, if the processing software is designed to change the behavior of an application
based on the contents of an XML file, the software will carry out the changes. XML acts as a syntax to add
structure to data, and it relies on other software to make it useful.
Is XML Related to HTML?
HTML, the publishing language of the Internet, is related to XML through a language called SGML (Standard
Generalised Markup Language).
SGML is a complex markup language that has its roots in GML, another markup language developed by a
researcher working for IBM(International Business Machine) during the late 1960s. HTML is an SGML
application, which means that HTML is a type of document that SGML directly supports. XML is a drastic
simplification simplification of SGML that removes its less frequently used features and imposes new
constraints that make it easier to work with than SGML. However, like HTML, XML is a representation of
SGML.
Read on
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