What Is XML?

XML organizes and structures data for the web. In many ways, it is like a database; in others, it is like a text file storing data. However, XML looks a lot like an HTML page as well, but with no built-in formatting tags. XML tags only order data. All of the tag names in XML are ones provided by the designer. For most XML pages, you can determine approximately what the structure is by examining the file. The following page is an example:

						<?xml version="1.0" ?> 
<writers> 
     <pen> 
           <name>Jane Austin</name> 
     </pen> 
     <pen> 
           <name>Rex Stout</name> 
     </pen> 
</writers> 

You can write this document in your favorite text editor, such as Notepad in Windows or SimpleText on the Macintosh. Save it as writers.xml. (All XML documents can be written and ...

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