Modeling Business Objects with XML Schema

Introduction

XML Schema is an industry standard. No, it did not become an industry standard by gradual adoption—it was a standard defined under the direct collaboration of various IT industry groups such as middleware manufacturers and database manufacturers. In fact, it was adopted by the contributing industry groups long before the final recommendation was published, a fact that marks the transition of XML from a documentation language to a mainstream data definition language for the whole IT industry.

XML Schema is the result of a political process. Different interests had to be negotiated, and the result is a compromise—a compromise that probably does not make everybody perfectly happy, but a compromise everybody can live with. The outcome ...