XML by Example

What about those documents that have no declaration (since the declaration is

optional)? These documents must use one of the default encoding parameters (UTF-8

or UTF-16). Again, the XML processor can match the first character (which must be a <)

against its encoding in UTF-8 or UTF-16.

Entities

The document in Listing 2.1 (page 42) is self-contained: The document is

complete and it can be stored in just one file. Complex documents are often

split over several files: the text, the accompanying graphics, and so on.

XML, however, does not reason in terms of files. Instead it organizes docu-

ments physically in entities. In some cases, entities are equivalent ...