Chapter 14. XML
XML stands for “Extensible Markup Language.” What the heck does that mean? It’s easy to be scared off—XML is usually mentioned in the same breath as SOAP, DTDs, metadata, structured content, and schema. With all of the buzzwords and jargon surrounding the topic, it’s easy to lose track of something very basic: XML is simple.
XML is a way to mark up (or tag) information in a text file. Any application that can write text files can be used to write XML. Like HTML, XML uses tags, such as “<h1>” to mark a piece of text. Unlike HTML, XML doesn’t have a limited set of predefined tags. That’s what the “extensible” part of the acronym means. You’re not limited to <h1>, <h2>, <p>, and so on, as you are in HTML.
It would be easy to fall ...
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