What is XML?

• It is a text-based markup language derived from Standard Generalized Markup Language (SGML).
• XML tags represents the data and are used to store and organize the data.
• XML tags are not used to specify how to display it like HTML tags are used to present the data.
• XML is not going to replace HTML
• XML Characteristics:
  • XML is extensible: Allows you to create your own self-descriptive tags to store the data.
  • XML is used to transport the data, does not present it: Allows you to store the data and not how it will be presented.
  • XML is a public standard: developed by World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) and is an open standard.
• Sample XML:

  <student>
    <name>ABC</name>
    <class>12</class>
    <id>12</id>
    <grade>B</grade>
  </student>
  

• XML is a markup language that defines set of rules for encoding documents in a format that is both human-readable and machine-readable.
• XML above does not DO anything and just information wrapped in tags.
• XML is used to carry data and focus on what data is. not like HTML is to display the data.
• XML tags are not predefined.
• XML Usage:
  • XML can work behind the scene to simplify the creation of HTML documents for large web sites.
  • XML can be used to exchange the information between organizations and systems.
  • XML can be used for offloading and reloading of databases.
  • XML can be used to store and arrange the data, which can customize your data handling needs.
  • XML can easily be merged with style sheets to create almost any desired output.
  • Virtually, any type of data can be expressed as an XML document.