Querying XML

Chapter 2

Querying

2.1 Introduction

In Chapter 1 we discussed the second term of the title of this book – “XML.” In this chapter we give some background on “querying,” before introducing “querying XML” in Chapter 3. We describe the query problem and some ways that problem is addressed today. In this chapter we focus on the issues that are common to all query scenarios, and we focus on SQL as a query solution. In the next chapter you will see how those issues can be addressed when the data is XML, and we will describe some wrinkles that are unique to querying XML.

2.1.1 Definitions of Query

Let’s start with three definitions of the word query. In everyday English, to query means “to ask questions of, especially with a desire for authoritative ...