Beginning ASP.NET 3.5 in C# 2008: From Novice to Professional, Second Edition

19.1. XML's Hidden Role in .NET

The most useful place for XML isn't in your web applications but in the infrastructure that supports them. Microsoft has taken this philosophy to heart with ASP.NET. ASP.NET uses XML quietly behind the scenes to accomplish a wide range of tasks. If you don't know much about XML yet, the first thing you should realize is that you're already using it.

19.1.1. Configuration Files

ASP.NET stores settings in a human-readable XML format using configuration files such as machine.config and web.config, which were first introduced in Chapter 6. Arguably, a plain-text file could be just as efficient. However, that would force the designers of the ASP.NET platform to create their own proprietary format, which developers ...