Introduction to XML
(Free Web Tutorials)

by Michael Thomas

(Under Construction)

In this tutorial you will be given an introduction to XML

Note: On the XML Home page, you can download the whole XML site (all content, tutorials & examples) !!!

This tutorial covers: XML

No prerequisite needed.
This tutorials has been tested in the following environment:
Date: 08/08/11
OS: Win 7
Browser: Windows IE 9

SGML (Standard Generalized Markup Language) - a very generic way of specifying a document structure. An example is: HTML, XML. Wikipedia says SGML "(ISO 8879:1986 SGML) is an ISO-standard technology for defining generalized markup languages for documents."
XML "Extensible Markup Language" - is a specification for storing information and describing the structure of that information. Wikipedia states "Extensible Markup Language (XML) is a set of rules for encoding documents in machine-readable form. It is defined in the XML 1.0 Specification produced by the W3C, and several other related specifications, all gratis open standards."
DTD (Document Type Declaration) - specifies the rules for the XML document. Also know as "XML Schema" or the term "XML vocabulary" used in SGML.
XSL (eXtensible Stylesheet Language) - XML's styling language.
XSLT (eXtensible Stylesheet Language Transformations) -
XHTML (eXtensible HyperTextMarkup Language) - designed for presentation but is a well formed XML document.

What is XML?
The Extensible Markup Language (XML) is a simple text-based format for representing structured information: documents, data, configuration, books, transactions, invoices, and much more. It was derived from an older standard format called SGML (ISO 8879), in order to be more suitable for Web use. (from W3C's web site: http://www.w3.org/standards/xml/core.html )
- It's a simple way to self describe data in a textual way.
What is XML used for?
XML is one of the most widely-used formats for sharing structured information today: between programs, between people, between computers and people, both locally and across networks. (from W3C's web site).
History of versions: (resource: Resource: http://www.w3.org/standards/techs/xmlc14n#w3c_all )
- 1999-06-05 - XML Canonicalization Requirements - This is a sample short description for this specification; over time we will replace this description with a real one.
- 2008-05-02 - Canonical XML Version 1.1 - Canonical XML Version 1.1 is a revision to Canonical XML Version 1.0 to address issues related to inheritance of attributes in the XML namespace when canonicalizing document subsets, including the requirement not to inherit xml:id, and to treat xml:base URI path processing properly.
- (Working Drafts) 2010-08-31 - Canonical XML Version 2.0 - Canonicalization 2.0 dovetails with the XML Signature 2.0 specification, and provides an XML canonicalization mechanism that is optimized for the needs of that specification.