What is xml for?

Question

How can xml be useful to the average computer user?

Answer 1

XML is never knowingly used by the average computer user.



Computers use XML to store and transfer information. It is kind of like your car engine. You don't have to know how it works to "use" it.



Unless you are a programmer you don't really have to understand it.

Answer 2

XML = = = = Extensible Markup Language



The Extensible Markup Language (XML) is a general-purpose specification for creating custom markup languages.[1] It is classified as an extensible language because it allows its users to define their own elements. Its primary purpose is to facilitate the sharing of structured data across different information systems, particularly via the Internet,[2] and it is used both to encode documents and to serialize data. In the latter context, it is comparable with other text-based serialization languages such as JSON and YAML.[3]





and ......

blah blah blah blah....





refer...



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XML

Answer 3

The Extensible Markup Language (XML) is a general-purpose specification for creating custom markup languages.



It is classified as an extensible language because it allows its users to define their own elements.



Its primary purpose is to facilitate the sharing of structured data across different information systems, particularly via the Internet,and it is used both to encode documents and to serialize data. In the latter context, it is comparable with other text-based serialization languages such as JSON and YAML.

Answer 4

XML is used in many aspects of web development, often to simplify data storage and sharing.

XML Separates Data from HTML



If you need to display dynamic data in your HTML document, it will take a lot of work to edit the HTML each time the data changes.



With XML, data can be stored in separate XML files. This way you can concentrate on using HTML for layout and display, and be sure that changes in the underlying data will not require any changes to the HTML.



With a few lines of JavaScript, you can read an external XML file and update the data content of your HTML.



You will learn more about this in a later chapter of this tutorial.

XML Simplifies Data Sharing



In the real world, computer systems and databases contain data in incompatible formats.



XML data is stored in plain text format. This provides a software- and hardware-independent way of storing data.



This makes it much easier to create data that different applications can share.

XML Simplifies Data Transport



With XML, data can easily be exchanged between incompatible systems.



One of the most time-consuming challenges for developers is to exchange data between incompatible systems over the Internet.



Exchanging data as XML greatly reduces this complexity, since the data can be read by different incompatible applications.

XML Simplifies Platform Changes



Upgrading to new systems (hardware or software platforms), is always very time consuming. Large amounts of data must be converted and incompatible data is often lost.



XML data is stored in text format. This makes it easier to expand or upgrade to new operating systems, new applications, or new browsers, without losing data.

XML Makes Your Data More Available



Since XML is independent of hardware, software and application, XML can make your data more available and useful.



Different applications can access your data, not only in HTML pages, but also from XML data sources.



With XML, your data can be available to all kinds of "reading machines" (Handheld computers, voice machines, news feeds, etc), and make it more available for blind people, or people with other disabilities.

XML is Used to Create New Internet Languages



A lot of new Internet languages are created with XML.



Here are some examples:



* XHTML the latest version of HTML

* WSDL for describing available web services

* WAP and WML as markup languages for handheld devices

* RSS languages for news feeds

* RDF and OWL for describing resources and ontology

* SMIL for describing multimedia for the web





hope this helps

Cheers:)