What Is XML? A Quick Refresher

XML (Extensible Markup Language) is an emerging technology used to structure and describe data. It is a derivative of Standard Generalized Markup Language (SGML), much like HTML. The difference between HTML and XML is that HTML is structured and defined with common specifications. In other words, in HTML, all tags are predefined and have meaning. In XML, you define your own tags.

HTML is designed for displaying information in a browser, and that is truly its limitation. With HTML, you can define how information should look in a browser, but it is meaningless beyond that. With XML, you can define data that can be displayed in a browser, or that can be used by your application in the same manner that data from a database ...

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