XML is the ExtensibleMarkupLanguage, a W3C recommendation describing a simplified subset of the Structured Generalized Markup Language. XML describes a text-based, tag-oriented markup language.
See:
- XML in 10 Points: http://www.w3.org/XML/1999/XML-in-10-points
- The W3C Recommendation (specification): http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-xml
- For some folks XML is a DataModel.
- For some folks XML is a document markup language (a language for structuring documents).
- For some folks XML is the next philosopher's stone, because it is "self-describing" - whatever that means.
- For some folks XML is the foundation for the next generation of RPC and messaging.
- For some folks XML is just another data encoding mechanism.
But in any and all of the above categories, XML is arguably inferior to other existing solutions. But unfortunately, XML is certainly a BuzzWord, and this is all that matters right now, so we need to be prepared to face XmlConsequences. -- CostinCozianu
- XML is BuzzwordCompliant.